Mōmoku no Kitsune
by babywolf-lover
Summary: When Naru was 9 years old she went completely blind because of an attack. Sarutobi was able to find her in time and got her specially trained even though she couldn't see. She becomes a genin at 12 and joins team 7. How much different would the story be with Naru being blind? rating between T and M. NO FLAMES Shika x Naru
1. Info

_**Summary: **_When Naru was 9 years old she went completely blind because of an attack. Sarutobi was able to find her in time and got her specially trained even though she couldn't see. She becomes a genin at 12 and joins team 7. How much different would the story be with Naru being blind?

_**Rating: **_T-M

_**Warnings: **_Violence, language, lite abuse,

_**Disclaimer: **_I still do not own Naruto, _sigh..._ oh how I wish I did... oh well! Fanfiction will work for now! :3

_**Important points for story- **_

Naru is completely blind and has been since she was 9 years old.

Sarutobi had her specially trained so she could still be a ninja even though she's blind.

She has a summoning contract with a large snow leopard named Mamoru who is guard.

The only ones to know about Naru's blindness is Sarutobi, Hinata Hyuuga and Shikamaru Nara.

Naru is loyal to her village and will not leave it, but she doesn't desire to be hokage or desire their attention.

She knows a lot of advanced jutsu thanks to Sarutobi.

She can see a little when under Kyuubi's influence.

Ages are the same in this as canon.

Some characters are Ooc!

We have decided it will be a Shikamaru x Naru pairing!

_**Below is Naru's Bio for this story, just so you know everything about her before! **_

**Naru Uzumaki**

**age:** 12 – and up. Born October 10th.

**Rank** – Genin, **Skill level **– Chunin.

**Weapons **– Katana, folding fans, senbon, kunai, shuriken, manipulated weapons, wires.

**Strengths** – Bukijutsu(weapon jutsu's), medical jutsu.

**Weaknesses **– Stubborn.

**Chakra natures – **Wind.

**Likes** – Learning new jutsu's true friends.

**Dislikes** – Being babied, cruel people.

**Dreams** – to be a top ninja.

**Personality** – (good)Attentive, hard-working, mature, logical, practical, quiet, serious, tolerant(to a point) – (bad)cautious, easily-annoyed, glum, hotheaded, reserved, sarcastic, shy(sometimes), temperamental.

**jutsu's** – Ones with * mean they are my jutsu's I created.

_**Clone jutsu – **_creates tangable/real clones.

_**clone explosion - **_ Creates normal looking clone but it will explode.

_**Transformation – **_transform into anything for spying.

_**bringer of darkness – **_creates a thick darkness that no one can see in.

_**delicate illness extraction – **_using chakra and medical liquid can pull poison from body.

_**mystical palm – **_chakra in palms can heal wounds.

_**gale palm force – **_Clap hands together and focus wind chakra, causes great destruction.

_**choking fog - **_(fog surrounds target makes it feel like they are suffocating)

_**rasengan – **_ball of rapid spinning chakra.

_**poison mist – **_shoots cloud of mist out and once it hits the air, it becomes poison.

_**chakra chains – **_Uzumaki clan power, chains of chakra shoot out use as barrier or to bind something.

_**shriek - (**_focus chakra in lungs, yell and it can cause damage all around.)

_**magnetic deflection - **_(pours chakra into weapon, once deflected, person emits a magnetized energy, all weapons will be attracted to them.)

_**ventriloquism - **_(controls sounds with wind, can whisper into targets ear even if you aren't next to them.)

_**lightning flash* - **_(Like thunder *god but when you disappear it looks like a lightning bolt.),

_**silent wind slice* - **_(pour chakra into weapon slice, gust of wind shoots out that has no noise and can't really be stopped.)

* * *

Hope you all enjoy the story! And thanks to my beta Vandar93!


	2. Chapter 1

Mōmoku no Kitsune

Story by Babywolf-Lover

Beta by Vandar93

Chapter 1.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandiame Hokage of Konohagakure, walked up the steps of the rundown apartment complex. As he walked to the last door at the end of the hallway he stopped and knocked on the door. He waited silently until he finally heard shuffling from the other side.

"Saru?" a small feminine voice sounded through the closed door.

"Yes." He replied back. The door opened and he smiled at the small girl standing in front of him. She was rather short for her age, only 4'8". She had golden blonde hair that was currently up in a ponytail with some of her bangs hanging right down the middle of her face covering her Hitai-ate. She had really light blue eyes and three whisker marks on each cheek.

She stepped back inside allowing him to enter her small apartment. He followed her inside and shut the door behind him and then went over to take a seat at the dining table. "How are you doing Naru?" he asked the 12 year old girl.

"You mean everything considered?" she retorted, which caused Hiruzen to chuckle a little while she sighed. "I'm doing okay, I think… I guess on some account, I kind of always knew." She said while shrugging.

"Well, you got to graduate." He said, she snorted.

"Is that really a good thing? Because I'm not entirely sure." She said with a sigh and sat down.

"It'll be okay Naru, and you are a Genin so the mission's won't be too ha-"

"I'm not worried about the missions, I'm worried about being on a team." She said. "You know I don't work well with others…" she said trailing off.

"Which is kind of strange considering…" he said, Naru snorted. "Did anyone figure it out at all?" he asked.

"No, I mean I don't think anyone did. I've trained myself and everything for so long to keep it up." She said with a shrug. "Soooo, who am I going to be teamed up with?" she finally asked, unable to wait to contain herself.

"Naru, you know I really shouldn't…" he started, but stopped after seeing her face. "But for you I can make an exception. Your teammates are going to be Haruno Sakura…" she groaned and tipped her head back. "And Uchiha Sasuke."

"Why don't you just put an anchor on my leg and push me off of a cliff?" she said, as he gave her a small smile. "It fit…" he said.

"And if they were fair over there, I would be with Shika and Hina." She said. "It should be that way, they were the only ones to figure out the truth." She said while rubbing her head. "Well, who is going to be my Sensei?"

"Hatake Kakashi." He replied.

"He doesn't know does he?" She asked with a small whine in the back of her throat.

"No, and if you don't want him to know, I won't tell him." He said.

"No please don't." she said, he nodded.

There was a pop and smoke hissed as it disappeared. Hiruzen saw her loyal summon Mamoru, a large snow leopard with bright blue eyes, a leather collar, and a vest that had the Uzumaki clan symbol on it. Mamoru was Naru's protector and rarely left her side.

"Hello Moru." Naru said, he came up and licked her cheek with a purr. She chuckled as he walked over and began to eat his supper that was already made up.

"Oh, I got you the Jutsu scrolls you asked about." Hiruzen said and pulled out the scroll and gave it to her. She smiled and accepted the scroll. "I have to get going." He said while getting up. "I just wanted to check on you after the whole Mizuki incident." He said, she nodded and looked up at him. He cupped her face and she smiled at him. "Do they bother you anymore?" he asked.

"No, there is…..nothing." she said sadly, a tear falling from her eye, which Hiruzen wiped away.

"It'll be okay Naru." He said, she nodded.

"Yeah." She whispered.

"You know how to get me if you need to." He said, she nodded with a smile which he returned. "Goodnight Naru." He said and left the apartment, closing the door behind him.

She sighed and opened the scroll and ran her fingers over the scroll and felt the small bumps on it, she 'read' the scroll with the bumps.

What were the bumps exactly? They were Braille. Why did she have a scroll with braille on it? It was simple really, because when Naru was 9 years old she went completely blind.

When she was 9 years old Naru went missing for two days. Hiruzen didn't stop searching for the girl he considered his own granddaughter. He finally found her in an alley, in a wounded and confused state, in the pouring rain on one of the coldest nights of the year. She had been beaten and left to die.

When he found the girl, he picked her up and carried her to his home and bandaged her a little and that's when she told him that she couldn't open her eyes. She told him someone had hit her with some chakra and she hadn't been able to open her eyes and see anything since then. They had left her in a rundown building and she had managed to crawl her way out of the building into the alley that he had found her in. No one had helped the child because she held the feared Kyuubi no Kitsune, and if Hiruzen hadn't been out hunting for the child, she could have died there.

Hiruzen kept her in his house for two days until he had to travel to Suna for a meeting. He took her with him and took her to one of the top eye doctors who was currently in Sunagakure. He had examined her and got her to be able to open her eyes and heal some of the damage, but told them that because the damage was so extensive that she would never be able to see again.

The girl had been devastated and was ready to give up all hope in life, but Hiruzen came up with an idea and got her specially trained in secret, and as time went on her hearing heightened along with her sense of smell.

She learned how to 'see' with her ears, nose, and body. She learned how to read the air around her, to fell the vibrations in the ground. And she never acted like she couldn't see and continued on her path to becoming a ninja. Hiruzen even got her the summoning scroll of her mother's clan so that she would have a companion.

Naru smiled as she read the words then sighed. She stood up grabbing the scroll and walked down the hall into the extra room which she had turned into a practice/study room. She had a set of shelves with all of her scrolls on them. The floors were padded so she could work out, and she had a training dummy hanging in the corner.

She set the scroll down and began to focus and work on the new Jutsu Hiruzen brought her.

Mamoru came in and laid down on the side of the room watching her carefully to make sure that she didn't hurt herself.

After two hours of training Naru stood in the room panting hard and shaking. The clone in front of her disappeared as Mamoru stood up.

"Naru-sama, come. It's time for bed." He rumbled.

"A few more minutes." She said and moaned and put her hands on her knees. He growled and walked up, grabbing her shirt in his teeth. She whined as he dragged her along. He was large enough to drag the small girl along easily with no issues. He pulled her into her bedroom and let her go. He bumped her forward, and she stumbled slightly and walked over and searched. She found her pj's and changed. She crawled into her bed and covered herself up. Mamoru jumped on the bed with her and curled up next to her. She smiled and stroked his soft fur.

"Night Moru." She whispered as her eyes closed.

"Goodnight Naru." He purred as they both fell asleep.

* * *

Alright a lot of you agreed and said you'd like to see the blind Naru story! So here it is!

The title was given to me by my beta **Vandar93** I couldn't of gotten this done if you didn't help me so, for like the billionth time thanks! :)

Anyways, enjoy, review, favorite, follow etc! The new chapter will be out...whenever I get to it! ;3


	3. Meeting the teams

Okay I got 11 reviews and you all are pretty excited about this story! I will try my best not to let you down! We're brainstorming on the future chapters so keep on reviewing! It motivates me ;) Enjoy!

Beta by Vandar93!

_**Chapter 2. Meeting the Teams**_

The next morning Naru got dressed slowly and sighed. She found her hairbrush and fixed her hair the way she did before she lost her sight. "Moru, how do I look?" she asked her summon.

"Perfect." He purred. She nodded with a smile and grabbed her hatai-ate that she had gotten from Iruka. It had his scent all over it. She pulled it on her forehead and tied it under her bangs, feeling the metal making sure that it was on correct. She walked out of her room and found her small bag and grabbed a breakfast bar from the kitchen. She pulled her shoes on which were specially made just for her. They were designed so that she could feel the vibrations in the ground better.

"Ready." She said pulling her bag on. Mamoru moved forward and slid between her legs and lifted her up onto his back. She slid below his shoulders and held onto him. She reached out and opened the door. Mamoru walked out and turned around so she could shut and lock the door behind them before they left for the academy. After Naru put the key back around her neck Mamoru took off leaping across the rooftops towards the academy. Once they arrived he leapt down and landed softly and sighed.

"I'll be waiting." He said. She nodded and slid off his back. He gave her a nudge forward towards the doorway and she started to walk, counting each step in her head. She opened the door and headed in.

"Naru." Hinata's voice sounded from her left side. She smiled towards her only female friend. Hinata walked up and grabbed her arm, wrapping hers around it, and secretly led Naru to class. "I'm glad that you passed." She said to Naru, who gave a soft smile in return.

"Yeah me too, I was pretty nervous." She said and chuckled.

"Yeah, well maybe we'll be on the-"Hinata started to say. "We won't." Naru said dejectedly.

"What?! How do you know that?!" Hinata said giving a small whine.

"I asked Sandiame-sama last night…. I'm with Uchiha and Haruno." She said causing Hinata to cringe.

"I'm sorry." She said sadly. Naru gave a little chuckle.

"Meh…" she said shrugging. "I'm not looking forward to any of it."

Both girls walked to the top row and sat down together like normal. Shortly after they sat down Shikamaru walked up with a smirk and plopped down in the open seat on the other side of Naru, who blinked hearing the noise of a chair moving next to her.

"Hey Naru." He said, she smiled at him and nodded. The three began to talk quietly about the teams as everyone else began to file in slowly.

The bell range finally and Iruka came in a minute later, giving everyone a big smile. "Well everyone, I have to say that I am so proud of each and every one of you for graduating." He said with a smile. He looked at Naru and cleared his throat. "Today is your last day in the academy and the last day that I will be your sensei." He said causing many of the students to erupt in cheers to finally be free from the academy, which caused him to develop a small tick mark above his left eye. "You're all going out into the world to become the amazing ninja's that I know you will be! I wish you all the best of luck out there in the world!" he said with a smile while the students were all grinning happily. "For today I will be giving you your teams and after lunch you will meet your new Sensei's" he said and opened the folder he had received from the Hokage. "Okay! Team 1" he said and began to list off students as well as their respective Sensei's. Naru sighed and waited for her team to be called.

"Team 7, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naru." He said causing Naru to sigh and put her head on the desk. Sakura meanwhile was jumping in the air cheering that she was with Sasuke while taunting Ino. Sasuke rolled his eyes not happy that he had to be placed with a team, he was an Uchiha. He was an elite! He shouldn't have to be paired up with these, amateurs!

"Team 8, Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba." He said. Hinata leaned back in her seat and looked over at Naru who gave her a small smile.

"Team 9 is still operational from last year. Team 10 will be Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino." He finished.

"You are all free to go to lunch now, I suggest spending the time getting to know your new teammates, but that is entirely up to you." He said noticing that his former students had already decided that they were done listening to him since he was no longer their Sensei.

Naru, Hinata, and Shikamaru headed out together and went to the small field behind the school and sat under a tree to eat their lunches. Mamoru jumped down next to Naru, who smiled while petting his head. She began to eat her lunch and shared it with him as well.

"So, what are you going to do Naru?" Hinata asked. "I mean, will you tell them?"

"Nope." She replied. "I don't plan on telling anyone." She stated.

"Troublesome woman, then what will you do?" Shikamaru asked while sighing.

"I have Moru with me. " She said grinning while he purred. They nodded and continued to talk about their plans for a while.

"I wonder what kind of Sensei we will have." Hinata pondered aloud.

"Yeah. I hope I don't get one who's too troublesome." Shikamaru said yawning.

"Do you know your Sensei Naru? I mean you did find out your team from Sandiame-sama…" Hinata asked.

"Hatake Kakashi." Naru replied.

"I've heard of him before." Shikamaru said, Naru just shrugged.

The bell was about to ring so they made their way back into the classroom, however this time Mamoru walked in with her and hid in the back of the room behind her, Shikamaru, and Hinata.

As time rolled on Jonin entered the room and called out their students names. Students filed out one by one until only Naru, Mamoru, Sakura, and Sasuke were left there.

Mamoru jumped up to Naru who now sat in the front row, startling Sakura causing her to scream. He growled at her and laid next to Naru, who smiled and pet his head.

"WHAT AS THAT ANIMAL DOING HERE!?" Sakura shrieked.

"First of all he's not an animal." Naru snapped.

"Well WHAT is he then!?" Sakura demanded while slowly switching to another seat more than a little scared of the large animal.

"He is my summon, Mamoru." She said and sighed.

"Why do you-"Sakura started to ask. "Because I do!" she barked with an eye roll. Mamoru nudged her hand. She sighed and continued to pet him. Sakura watched the two warily from a few seats over while Sasuke glared angrily at her wondering why he, The Last Uchiha, didn't have a summon and she did.

It wasn't until the third hour passed before the door finally slid open and a Jonin stepped in. He had silver hair that stuck up defying all the laws of gravity, a leaf hatai-ate slanted across his head covering his left eye, and a skin tight mask over the lower part of his face that matched the Jonin uniform that he wore.

"Hmm." He said looking them over. "You all seem boring. Meet me on the roof in 5 minutes." He said and left the room.

"Well that was rude." Sakura said sighing and stood up chasing after Sasuke who had hurriedly left the room to head to the roof. Naru got up from her seat and got onto Mamoru's back who then proceeded to make his way to the stairs that headed to the roof.

Kakashi watched carefully as he saw his final student come up to the roof riding on the back of a snow leopard with an eyebrow raised in curiosity. She carefully got off of his back and started to sit down as he curled up behind her so that she would be leaning against him.

Sakura and Sasuke who had been standing the whole time since coming up to the roof decided to sit down, albeit with a little more space between them and the large leopard. Kakashi sighed at seeing this knowing that his job was going to be that much harder.

"Alright, I want you all to introduce yourselves one at a time." He said.

"What are we supposed to say Sensei?" Sakura inquired.

"Your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future. Those kind of things." He said with a small shrug and cross his arms over his chest.

"Maybe you should go first, just to show us what you want exactly." Naru said. He looked at her then sighed.

"Alright, my name is Hatake Kakashi. Things I like and things I hate… I don't feel like telling you that." He said. "My dreams for the future, never really thought about it. And as for my hobbies, well. I have some hobbies." He said with a half shrug.

"Well that was pointless, all we got was his name." Sakura muttered to herself.

"Alright, you're first pinky." Kakashi said earning a glare from Sakura.

Naru's face briefly flashed with confusion before it went back to normal as she thought _'Pinky… OH. Sakura right.'_ This wasn't missed by Kakashi who merely put it into the back of his mind figuring that she just wasn't paying attention.

"I'm Haruno Sakura, what I like is uh… I mean the person I like is…" she glanced at Sasuke and bit her lip with a light blush. "My hobby is uh…" she erupted in giggles, which caused Naru to blink in confusion. "My dreams for the future are…" she stopped and squealed into her hands, causing Sasuke to shift a little further away from her.

Kakashi hung his head in defeat. A fangirl. Why did He have to get stuck with a fangirl, on HIS team. Girls like her are more into boys than actually training to be a ninja. "Next." Kakashi said looking over at the only boy on his team.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything." He said causing Sakura to deflate a little. "My dream, no it's not a dream. My goal is to revive my clan and kill a certain man." He said glaring out. Sakura blushed staring at him in awe, Naru blinked in shock.

_'He's so cool.' _Sakura swooned.

_'Whoa.'_ Naru thought.

_'Just as I thought. Hung up on revenge.'_ Kakashi thought. He sighed and shifted his attention to Naru.

"And finally you." He said pointedly at Naru. Mamoru nipped her gently to she knew that he was talking to her.

"Um, my name is Uzumaki Naru. I like learning new jutsu's, being outside, and spending time with my true friends and Mamoru." She said smiling a little. "I don't like being babied, getting in trouble, or cruel and ignorant people. My hobbies are training and relaxing." She said.

"And my dream, I guess is to one day be a top ninja and be accepted." She said shrugging while petting Mamoru's head again.

_'Hmm. Well at least one of my Genin has a realistic dream.'_ Kakashi mused to himself.

"Alright, you're all different in your own way. Tomorrow we will meet and have our first mission." He said.

"Oh! What is it?" Sakura asked.

"A survival test." He said causing Sakura to whine and Sasuke to scoff.

"We did those in the academy all the time!" Sakura whined.

"This one is different. This one will determine whether you pass and become permanent genin." He said with a smirk forming under his mask.

"WHAT?!" Sakura screeched, causing Naru to flinch and instinctively grab her ears and Mamoru to snarl at Sakura.

"Yes. You see, out of the 27 graduating students, only 9 of you will become genin permanently." He said. "And that is what this test will determine."

"So this exam we just had was useless." Sasuke said.

"No, it taught you what you needed and it helped sort out all the hopeless cases. The better way to say this is, I am the only one who determines if you pass or fail tomorrow." He said with a chuckle. "So tomorrow morning I want all three of you to meet me at the 3rd training ground at 5am." He said while standing up from the railing he was leaning on. "Bring your ninja gear with you as well. Oh, and don't eat breakfast." He said with a small smile.

"Why?"

"It's simply really, it's because you will puke." He said with a smile earning him three sets of eyes blinking in shock. He waved his hand.

"You are all dismissed." He said. Sasuke got up quickly and left with Sakura hot on his heels trying to ask him out on a date. Naru stood up and wobbled a little causing Mamoru to bite her clothing to stabilize her. He slowly leaned down so Naru could climb onto his back.

Kakashi watched this interaction with curiosity as Mamoru made his way towards the railing he had just been leaning against.

"Hold on." He purred to Naru, who gripped his collar tightly as he jumped off of the roof and took of quickly towards her apartment.

Kakashi watched his final student depart as he pondered some thoughts to himself.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! This is your Beta Vandar93. Please let myself or BabyWolf know if you find anything confusing anywhere in this story so we can clarify it to help everyone understand it better! Don't forget to Drop a review and Fav/Follow this story! We are both very thrilled with this story and seeing your reactions is a huge motivator for us to continue working on it as diligently as we have been!


	4. Pass or fail?

_**Chapter 3: Pass or fail?**_

Naru and Mamoru walked into the training grounds a little after 5am, she yawned and slid down when he stopped, he nudged her towards the poles there. She sat down slowly and he curled up around her, keeping her warm in the cool air and both fell asleep.

Sasuke and Sakura arrived and watched them curiously as they slept. Naru woke up about an hour later with a yawn, rousing Mamoru from his light sleep when he heard her yawn. He purred a little and she rubbed his side and back gently and he continued to purr.

All three genin waited for hours, the sun climbing slowly higher and higher in the sky and still time ticked slowly by until finally at 10:00am Kakashi came strolling up lazily with a smile.

"Morning." he said.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura snarled.

"Sorry, sorry, you…see a black cat crossed in front of my path, so I had to take the long way around the village." he said with a grin while rubbing the back of his head, they growled at him, he cleared his throat. "Anyways..." he pulled out an alarm clock and put it on the pole that Naru was leaning against. She stood up and Mamoru walked with her to the others. "The test is simple, you have until noon to retrieve these bells from me." he said and held two silver bells up that jingled. "You may use any tactic to get them away from me, all weapons are allowed. However if you don't come at me like you want to kill me, you'll never stand a chance." he said causing them all to blink in shock. "If you don't get a bell by time the alarm goes off, you will be tied to these posts and watch while I eat my lunch in front of you." he said, their stomachs growled at the mention of food. "And that person will fail automatically and will be sent back to the academy." he said, they blinked in shock.

"But wait! There are only two!" Sakura said.

"Exactly, that way, one of you will definitely fail." he said with his trademark eye smile. "We'll begin when I say start." he said, Naru climbed on Mamoru's back, they got ready. "Start!" he said, they jumped away and Mamoru jumped through the woods quickly.

"What are we going to do?" Naru asked as they jumped through the woods.

"We'll wait and get a feel on his seriousness with this test. Then we'll decide from there." he rumbled, she nodded, he climbed a large tree and made sure they were hidden well in the leaves so he could see all around them while Naru listened.

Kakashi strolled through the forest collecting their locations, he sensed Sakura's chakra moving quickly and right towards him. 'Probably looking for Sasuke' he sighed mentally. He pulled out a small orange book and began to read. He heard her gasp followed by her sudden noisy stop, causing him to sigh as he quickly replaced himself with a clone and crept up behind her and smirked.

"Sakura." he whispered, she gasped and whirled around, she screamed and he made a few signs and threw the girl into a genjutsu.

He jumped up into the tree watching Sakura stand there dazed, suddenly she screamed bloody murder and fainted. "Too harsh? Oh well, she's got to learn these things." he muttered and turned the page.

Mamoru sighed and shook his head as he saw what happened.

"What in the world just happened? I heard Sensei say her name and then her scream! Did he kill her!?" Naru asked in a panic.

"No, Sakura was caught in a genjutsu and fainted." he said. "The Uchiha is confronting him now, we will attack after this." he said, she nodded and Mamoru watched the interesting fight, seeing the Uchiha was able to touch the bell.

Kakashi pulled him into the ground and walked away returning to his book, Mamoru grabbed Naru and jumped down, they stopped. "Any ideas?" Naru asked, he nodded.

"One." he said, she nodded and listened as he whispered the plan to her.

Kakashi stood leaning against a tree relaxing, if he calculated correctly he had at least 12 minutes until the alarm would ring and so far only two students had attacked him, as he thought about Naru and how strange she was, he heard a shuffle and watched Naru walk from the bushes, she stiffened and paused, he smirked and straightened. He heard another shuffle and Naru walked out from behind the tree, he cocked his eyebrow and stood relaxed.

"I was wondering when you would attack kid." he said, she blinked then closed her eyes and focused, he watched her build up some chakra, he glanced back and saw the other doing the same.

He blinked as the one in front of him shot towards him, she swung and he blocked and pushed her back, the other attacked and he dodged again, he watched the other hit the ground and the other skid and crouched, the other got up slowly and got up and let out a breath of air, she closed her eyes and ran towards him again, she pulled out kunai and shuriken and threw them, he pulled his own out and blocked them and threw a few towards her, suddenly a lightning bolt cracked and she disappeared, Kakashi blinked in shock and shook his head, he looked around. Was that the thunder god? He thought and looked around carefully, little pellets hit the ground and he flinched as smoke shot up, he saw movement and kicked Naru backwards and dodged the other then used the smoke and disappeared.

Naru stood there panting and focused her chakra, she blinked and launched in the air just as Kakashi shot up from the ground, he looked at her confused. 'Her eyes are closed.' He thought.

The other Naru launched at him, he blinked and dodged the blow and landed a harsh kick to her chest, she shot back and rolled a little, he heard a roar and bent backwards as Mamoru launched out at him, he skidded to a stop, he panted and looked at both as they stood there, he blinked and watched as Mamoru got ready to pounce again.

Suddenly a shrill ringing sounded, he smirked and relaxed, Naru cursed and Mamoru sighed and let Naru crawl on his back and he walked away with Naru who was looking down.

_I need to talk to Sarutobi..._ he thought.

He walked to the posts and found all three sitting down waiting for him, they all looked depressed. Kakashi smirked. "Well, I have some news, none of you are going back to the academy." he said, they perked up and smiled. "Because you are being dropped from the being ninja entirely." he said, they gasped, Sasuke launched at him, he rolled his eyes and dodged the boy and threw him to the ground and sat on him, earning a grow. "Really? You expect me to pass you three? You don't even understand the meaning of the test." he said.

"What do you mean?" Naru asked.

"It's so obvious!" he said. "Teamwork!" He barked. "If you had worked together as a team, you might have gotten the bell." he said, they blinked then looked down. "Sakura, you did nothing! You were so focused on Sasuke, you fell for an easy trap." he said, she slumped and looked down. "Sasuke, you thought the others were a waste of time so you ignored them, I hate that." he said and pressed the boy's head to the ground hard, he growled. "Naru, you showed a little teamwork, but not with your teammates." he said, she blinked a few times. "You want to be called ninja's but you can't even get that?!" he said and got up. "Look at this stone. This stone contains the names of all the great heroes of our village..." He said somberly.

"Heroes?" Naru said.

"They were all KIA." he said. "The names of some of my best friends are on here." he said, they blinked. "When you don't have teamwork, you might as well just kill yourself and the others." he said, they slunk. "I will give you one more chance." he said and pulled out two bento's and walked up to them. He gave Sasuke one and then the other to Naru. "Eat up, you'll have one more chance, Sakura, you don't get any." he said, she whined a little, Naru blinked. "I make the rules. Get it." he said and disappeared, they began to eat, Sakura sat there then whimpered as her stomach growled, Naru blinked and gave one piece to Mamoru. She brought another piece to her mouth, but paused focusing a little.

"Sakura, here." she said, the girl blinked.

"Baka! You heard him!" Sakura exclaimed.  
"But if you are hungry, you won't be able to fight at your best." she said. "I'm not that hungry." she said and smiled, she took the offered food.

"Thanks." she said, Sasuke held some out, she blushed. "Sasuke-kun." she swooned.  
"Just shut up and eat." he said.

Kakashi appeared in front of them, they gasped in horror.

"YOU!" he growled, Mamoru snarled and stood in front of Naru. "You broke the rules!" he said, they gulped. "You must be punished!" he said.

"But…" Naru said.

"What?" he said.

"You said this test was about teamwork, and that even means giving food to a teammate." Naru said.

"We're a team, we'll stick together." Sasuke said.

"Right!" Sakura said. "We're one!" she said, Kakashi glared at them then smirked.

"You pass." he said, they blinked confused.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"You... pass." he said. "See every other ninja before you did exactly what I said and that is wrong." he said. "The meaning of this test, the lesson behind it, is one of the most important things I was ever taught." he said and pulled out the bells and held them. "In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades, are worse than scum." he said, they blinked. "Team 7 passes!" he said, they cheered and laughed, he smirked. "You are all dismissed. Tomorrow Team 7 starts missions." he said.

Naru got on Mamoru and rubbed his ear, earning a rather loud purr from the snow leopard. Kakashi smirked and watched them set off towards their apartment. Kakashi waited until they were out of sight then headed to the Hokage's office.

He walked in and bowed to the Hokage, he nodded. "So?" Hiruzen said putting his pipe down.

"Team 7 consisting of Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naru has passed." he said, Sarutobi smirked. 'I knew it would work.' He thought.

"That is good to hear." he said. "You can come in tomorrow for missions." he said, Kakashi nodded then shifted. "What is it Kakashi?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing sir, just tired." he said then bowed and walked out, Sarutobi sighed and looked out the window.

Now let's see what will happen now … he thought.

That night he walked into Naru's apartment, she let him in, he smiled. "So, you passed?"  
"Yes." she said with a smile.  
"I'm proud of you." he said, she gave him a large grin.

"Thank you." she said.

"How did you do?" He asked.  
"Alright." she said and smiled. "It was hard to act nice and help them..." she said with an eye roll, he chuckled.

There was a knock on the door, Naru got up and answered it.

"I heard you passed!" Iruka said, she chuckled, he picked her up and spun her, she laughed as he set her down, and he walked in and paused. "Hokage-sama! I'm sorry I'll come ba-"  
"No, you're fine Iruka, I was just checking on Naru. I will talk with you later." he said and walked out.

"Oh! I'm so proud of you Naru!" he said, she smiled at him and nodded, he chuckled and opened a bag.

"What did you bring?" she asked.

"A small cake to celebrate." he said and opened it, Naru smiled at him and nodded, she took it slowly and set it on the table.

"Want some?" she asked.

"Sure." he said, she smiled and got a knife and cut the cake up, he smiled as he watched her wash the knife right away and put it back exactly as it was. "You are a very meticulous person aren't you Naru-chan." he said.

"Well, yeah, I guess just a quirk." she shrugged. "Sorry." she chuckled.

"Oh! No!" he said and laughed. "I just noticed how neat this place is."  
"I just have to have it like that." she smiled. 'And because of I don't keep it neat I end up tripping over something like when I was first adjusting.' She thought dejectedly while she slid the plate to him and they ate the cake.

"So, are you excited about getting a mission now?" he asked.

"Yeah." she nodded. "I'm excited!" she said, he chuckled.

"I knew you'd pass." he said, she smiled at him.

* * *

Alright Blind Naru and Team 7 start their missions next!

I do want Naru to be slightly cold but yet open with them, she'll help them out, but it doesn't mean she'll be open with them... telling them the truth!

Don't forget to Favorite/Follow this story and leave a review/comment!

Also, there will not be any character bashing in this story!

My beta Vandar93 and I are on a roll with this story! Planning it all out and we hope we can make this a kick ass story for you all to enjoy! Until next time! ;3


	5. Dreadful D-ranks

Chapter 4: Dreadful D-Ranks

Sasuke leaned against a tree peering around the side, a little ways away Sakura was crouched down behind a bush, Naru was behind a tree.

"Do you have the target in sight?" Kakashi's voice came over the radios in their ears.

"Yes." Sasuke whispered back.

"Okay on my count -"

"Wait target is moving!"

A black blur shot through the bushes and stopped. Naru was closest, she gulped and went to her knees and moved out a little, a hiss sounded.

The 'target' was a small tabby cat named Tora, she had brown fur and lighter brown markings, and amber eyes, and had a red ribbon on her ear.

"It's okay Tora, come here." Naru whispered and waved her finger in the direction she was guessing where the cat was at, she hissed again. Naru made a kissing noise and reached out, she hissed as Tora's nails hit her hand. "OW!" she yelped and held the bleeding cut on her hand. Tora took advantage of the situation and turned to run but froze as Mamoru stood in front of her. He roared at her, she yowled, her back and fur going straight up and she jumped in the air in fright, Tora ran to Naru and jumped into her arms shaking in fear, Naru laughed and stood up slowly. Mamoru nudged her and she got up on his back and he set back to the team.

Sasuke and Sakura jumped down just as they arrived to Kakashi's location.

"Mission accomplished!" Sakura said with a smile, even though inside she was ready to throttle the cat they had been chasing for hours!

"Is the cat okay?" Sasuke asked looking at the shaking cat in Naru's arms, Kakashi looked at the cat.

Mamoru let out a rumble and Naru giggled a little.

"Meh." Kakashi gave a small shrug. "Let's go." he said, they set out back to the Hokage tower and Naru stayed on Mamoru as Madam Shijimi who was the wife of the fire Daimyo came up to her and picked up Tora and hugged her tight, and for the first time ever since the stupid cat ran away, didn't fight the tight hold of her mommy, she actually snuggled into her arms.

"I think we finally took care of the cat…" Kakashi muttered.

"Congratulations on a successful mission Team 7!" Sarutobi said with a smile. "It took you a little longer than normal, did Tora get better at hiding?" he said with a chuckle and puffed at his pipe.

"We would have been done with this mission SO much sooner, BUT Naru let Tora run right past her a bunch of times! What wrong with you!? Are you that blind you can't see a cat with a bright red ribbon?!" Sakura sneered. Naru slunk a little and blinked a few times, eyes starting to get watery. Mamoru growled a little which made Sakura step back a little, Sarutobi gulped as he saw how upset Naru was.

"I'm sorry." Naru mumbled, Sarutobi cleared his throat, they turned their attention back to him. He sighed.

"Alright, I will give you another mission. Your mission is to pull some weeds for an old woman who needs help around her property due to her increasing age. It will be tomorrow." he said, they nodded, Kakashi took the paper and they left with a bow, Naru held on to Mamoru as he jumped to her apartment.

"Are you okay?" he rumbled.

"... Yeah…" she said. She unlocked her door and he let her get down and watched as she walked to her room and sat on the bed. He sighed and curled up with her, he looked and saw tears running down her cheeks.

"Naru-sama, don't be upset by what the loud one said. She's just being ignorant." he said, she chuckled a little with a small smile but it fell and she sighed. _'It's not fair...'_ She thought.

~o0o~

The next day Naru and Mamoru jumped down a little ways from Sasuke and Sakura, Kakashi appeared 15 minutes later and sent them off to their work of pulling weeds from the woman's garden, while Kakashi sat lounging on the fence reading his Icha-Icha book.

Naru was on her knees feeling along the ground of her section carefully, Mamoru helped by telling her quietly where to go and not go.

Kakashi peered over his book and looked at Naru, he tilted his head as he watched her feel the grass before she would pull it and watched Mamoru instruct her. 'Strange...' He thought.

He looked over at Sakura and Sasuke but they were just looking bored and pulling the weeds easily, he looked back and watched Naru struggling a little with her section being the one farthest behind.

Soon they were close to being finished with the garden. Naru was moving faster and had Mamoru helping her less than before, feeling the grass with her hands and got moving faster, Kakashi was relaxing again but jumped when he heard the woman let out a yell.

"You idiot! You pulled all of the herbs out!" she screamed at Naru.

"I'm sorry!" she said and felt the grass and winced as she felt the difference.

"I should have known a Demon couldn't help, only destroy!" she said putting her hands on her hips.

"I said I was sorry." Naru said.

"You idiotic monster fox!" she snarled and shoved her, Naru cried out and fell into the mud, Mamoru launched in front of her and roared, the woman screamed and fell, Kakashi launched in front of her.

"Whoa! Easy!" He said. Mamoru growled his fur standing on end. Kakashi sighed and helped the woman up, he turned and watched Mamoru nuzzle Naru gently.

"Are you okay?" Mamoru rumbled. She sniffled and rubbed her face that was covered in mud, Mamoru picked her up and got her on his back, she struggled and got up right on his back, he sent one more growl to the woman.

"Wait!" Kakashi called but Mamoru jumped away with Naru.

Later that night Naru came out of her shower drying her hair, Mamoru laid on her couch. There was a sudden rapid knocking at her door, they perked up, Naru walked up and paused.

"Yes?" she said.

"Naru, it's me, Saru." his old voice sounded, she sighed and opened the door and blinked towards his location, he let out a breath of air, and cupped her face, she gave a small smile to him.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied sadly.

"What happened?" he asked as he ushered her to her table and sat down with her. "I mean, Kakashi said there was an issue on the mission and you left early, he said you got pushed?" he said.

"I made a mistake with the weed pulling and the woman yelled at me, she called me a Demon and…" she said looking down, tears starting to fill her eyes. " … And I apologized but she yelled again and shoved me back into the dirt." She said as tears starting flowing from her eyes. "Right when she did this Mamoru leaped at her only to have Kakashi step in between." She said while crying. "KAKASHI WAITED UNTIL I WAS PUSHED TO STOP HER! HE'S A JONIN! HE COULD HAVE PREVENTED HER FROM SHOVING ME TO THE GROUND, BUT NOT HE ONLY CARED ONCE THE "DEMONS" PET LUNGED AT THE OLD BITCH!" Naru shouted angrily with tears still flowing down her face.

"Stupid human." Mamoru muttered from his spot on the couch.

"Naru, I'm sorry." He said reaching over to hug the crying girl. "Maybe we should avoid these kind D-ranks missions. We can stick to other kinds like-"

"It won't matter!" Naru said sharply, jerking away from him. "It won't what kind of D-rank I go on!" she said angrily. "D-ranks are supposed to be simple! They are just menial tasks around the home that people pay others to do because they can. Anyone can do them except someone like me who can't see!" she said and sighed shakily and tears still falling from her cheeks. She brought her knees up to her face and wrapped her arms around them crying loudly. "It's not fair!" she yelled. Sarutobi moved forward and pulled her into a tight embrace hugging her and holding her tightly. She bawled into his shoulder, he rubbed her back and hushed her gently Mamoru got up and set his head on her lap gently and both comforted the girl as she broke down.

~o0o~

Two days later Naru, Mamoru, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura stood in the mission office for the first time since the last mission.

"Alright team 7, considering the last mission and it seems you all are improving a little, I have decided to give you a challenge." he said, they perked up. "I have a C-rank mission for you all." he said with a smirk, Kakashi blinked confused that he was giving a practically brand new genin team, that hadn't really gotten along yet, a C-rank mission.

Naru had a tiny smile on her face, she knew everyone else was confused but she wasn't, Sarutobi decided he would give the team a chance on a C-rank, mainly because it was getting difficult for Naru to keep the mask on her face while on D-rank missions, so maybe a C-rank would help her.

"This is just a simple escort mission. A bridge builder needs to be brought to his home and to have some protection from robbers and highway men while he finishes working on his bridge. He lives in the Land of Waves, just off the coast of the Land of Fire." he said. "Send in the client!" he called. They turned and looked as an older man came in, stumbling a little. He had gray hair that was messy, it almost looked like he just rolled out of bed, he wore brown, tattered clothing showing he wasn't the richest man alive, he had a pair of small glasses on his face, and his face had a pink tint to it, which showed he had been drinking, the other sign obvious sign was the large sake bottle which was almost empty in his hand.

Naru cringed as the smell of sake hit her nose, causing her to she gag a little. They all blinked at the man who they were supposed to be protecting.

He grunted and smacked his lips and blinked. "What is thish!?" he said wobbling. "I requested ninjah! Not a bunch of brats!" he said with a heavy slur and took another swig of his drink and wiped his mouth with his arm. "They don't look like they could protect a fly!" he said.

"I promise you Tazuna-san, they are more than qualified." Sarutobi said with a smile. He stumbled forward, closer to Naru. Naru couldn't hold the gag noise in this time, earning her glares from her team as she continued to gag.

"What's your problem dobe?" Sasuke said.

"Did you take a bath in sake or something? Or are you just a walking bottle of it?" she said cringing and covering her nose. He growled. Sarutobi chuckled a little with a cough, Iruka shook his head with a smile.

"So you're telling me I get three brats and a kitten?!" He said. Mamoru roared at him, causing him to jump and his bottle to fall, shattering on the ground. He let out an exasperated moan, earning a giggle from Naru.

"You don't call Mamoru a kitten." she said.

"Brat!" he said, she frowned at him and Mamoru rumbled.

"Ahem." Sarutobi said, they all looked at him waiting. "I want you all to set out tomorrow morning at 9. That will give you enough time to make it to the Land of Waves during the daytime." He said. They nodded, he signed a paper and stamped it, holding it out for Kakashi to take and bowed. "Dismissed and good luck." He said. They walked outside, which was followed by Naru taking in a deep breath of air as Kakashi watched her.

"Naru?" he asked, she perked up but looked at her hands.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I... uh...- never mind." he said, she turned towards him tilting her head to the side slight while crinkling an eye. She smiled and set off with Mamoru.

They arrived at her apartment and Mamoru crouched letting her slide off. She walked in after pulling her shoes off, she began to make some lunch for herself and Mamoru.

"You need to get packed up for the mission." he rumbled.

"Yeah, I'll do it after this." she said with a smile and put his dish down. She sat down and ate herself quickly. She finished and sat there quietly, letting out a soft sigh.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm just…worried, I guess." she said. "What if…what if I mess up again?" she asked.

"I can't say you won't mess up again, it's natural, but you have to know how to move on." he said, she sighed. "Everyone makes mistakes." he said. "But they make you stronger, so long as you don't let them hold you back and you learn from them." he said, she smiled.

"You always know just what to say don't you?"

"Yup." He said, she snorted. He stepped up and put his paw on her chair and licked her cheek, she smiled. "You'll be fine." he said. "Get ready." he said, she smiled and got up and walked back to her room and began to pack her weapons and supplies into her pack and set it against the wall out of the way, Naru sighed and sat down on her bed and yawned.

Mamoru jumped on the bed with her and curled up, she smiled and changed her clothes and crawled into bed herself and finally went to sleep, wondering what exactly would happen tomorrow…

* * *

Land of Waves arc starts next!

We've been planning like crazy! We have worked out some kinks, but we're getting it done! Enjoy!

Don't forget to drop a review on the story before you go! ;3


	6. Land of waves part 1

_**New chapter! Enjoy!**_

* * *

Sorry about the late update, I sliced my hand open and wasn't up to writing! ;(

* * *

_**Chapter 5. Land of Waves Part 1**_

Naru sighed as the team and Tazuna waited at the gates, once again waiting on their chronically late Sensei. They finally saw Kakashi lazily approaching the gate, and this time not 3 hours late!

"Let's head out." he said with a smile, they nodded and set out towards the Land of Waves, mostly walking in pure silence.

"Say Tazuna-san..." Sakura said looking at him. "What is it brat?" he said with a slight sneer.

"Your country is the Land of Waves, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, what of it?" he said, she looked to Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei, there are ninja in that country too aren't there?" she asked.

"No, there are no ninja in the Land of Waves. But in other countries there are hidden villages each with their own different customs and cultures where ninja reside." he said.

"So, why are there ninja in other countries?" Sakura asked.

"To the people of each country, the existence of ninja means strength, military strength. In other words that's how they protect themselves and maintain the balance of their lands. But ninja villages are not under the control of the government … but when it comes to small islands, like the Land of Waves, it has natural protection from the sea, so they don't have a need for a ninja village." he said.

"Which ones have ninja villages?" Sakura asked blinking.

"The lands that do consist of ninja villages are the Lands of Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind and Earth. All of them each have vast areas of land, together they are known as the Five Great Shinobi Nations." he said. "The Land of Fire has the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The land of Water has the Village Hidden in the Mist. The land of Lightning has the Village Hidden in the Clouds. The land of Wind has the Village Hidden in the Sand and the Land of Earth has the Village Hidden in the Stones." he said. "The leaders of these villages are allowed the title of Kage, which there are only five of in the Ninja World. The Five Kages are the Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Kazekage and Tsuchikage."

"So, Hokage-sama is really great!" Sakura said. _'Is that old man really that great? Pshh Yeah right.'_ Sakura thought.

_'He is...'_ Naru thought with a smile.

"Hey!" Kakashi barked, Sakura stiffened. "You just doubted Hokage-sama didn't you?" he said with a strict tone, Sakura shook her head quickly, Mamoru snorted, Sakura slunk a little and Kakashi chuckled and ruffled her hair. "Well, anyways there are no ninja battles in a C-rank mission anyway, so you can relax. The most we would have to worry about is Bandits or Highwaymen." he said with a smile, she sighed.

"So we won't be running into any foreign ninja or anything like that?" Sakura asked in a sweet voice.

"Heh, not likely." Kakashi said with a chuckle.

Sasuke glanced back and saw Tazuna gulp a little, Mamoru cocked his brow as he felt the nervousness pouring off of Tazuna. _'What's he hiding?'_ He thought.

They continued to walk for over an hour along the path in the woods, they passed a single water puddle on the ground. Kakashi blinked a few times and sighed quietly. They all walked pass it.

Two ninja's in dark garbs rose up silently from the water puddle and pulled their arms up, chains connected and they wrapped around Kakashi, he gasped in horror, everyone turned around.

"Do it!" Gouzu said. "Now!" Meizu said with a nod.

Kakashi cried out as they pulled the chains tighter and they cut through his body and it fell to the ground, Sakura screamed in horror, Mamoru growled, Naru gulped.

"Now it's your turn!" Meizu said. They gasped as they ran out, Mamoru growled, he focused in on one as he ran around, Naru cried out as one tackled her right off of Mamoru.

"Naru!" he growled.

Naru rolled on the ground and groaned in pain, she sat up slowly and panted hard, she focused some chakra and heard and felt the rumbling in the ground moving quickly towards her.

"Duck!" Mamoru snarled, Naru dropped down and gasped as she felt one fly over her.

Sasuke ran out and kicked the one in his neck, he coughed and skidded backwards, Naru got up slowly and panted, she heard steps and got ready, she was tackled by Mamoru, he turned and brought his large paw up smacking the Gouzu a few feet from him, he groaned in pain, Mamoru growled Naru got up slowly and panted, she felt some slight movement, she spun around and sliced her weapon and heard the tear of clothes, Mamoru turned and smirked as he saw Naru stabbing Meizu in the stomach, he growled and brought his claw up.

"Naru!" Mamoru barked, Naru jumped backwards avoiding Meizu's claw, he growled and went after her again.

Sakura screamed as Gouzu ran towards her and Tazuna, Sasuke skidded in front of her. Gouzu reached his claws out but instead of hitting them, he was met with a strong arm that belonged to Kakashi, he slumped and shook in pain.

"Kaka-sensei!" Sakura said with a smile, Sasuke snorted that he hadn't got his chance to show off.

Kakashi looked at his prisoner and snorted, he heard a yelp of pain and a loud thud followed by a short scream and Mamoru's roar.

He looked up to see Mamoru pulling away from the other demon brother, blood splattered on the ground leaking from the now dead man. Mamoru trotted up to Naru who had gotten kicked back by him, he nuzzled her gently she chuckled.

"I'm fine." she whispered. She pulled out her canteen and poured some of it on Mamoru's lips wiping the strong blood from him.

"Thanks." he rumbled, even for his large size and fierce power he wasn't a fighter unless he had to.

Kakashi dropped the one brother to the ground after he tied him up, he looked at Naru then sighed and turned his attention to his client.

"Alright, well that was interesting, Tazuna-san, I believe we need to talk." Kakashi said, the old man blinked quickly.

"Bout what?" he asked nervously.

"Sensei, how did you-?" Sakura asked.

"Substitution." Sasuke said and looked where Kakashi had been 'killed' at to see a log sliced up in chunks that was supposed to be Kakashi's body. He nodded.

"How did you know?" Gouzu rasped from the ground.

"A puddle? In the middle of the day, on this road, when it hasn't rained for weeks?" he said. "It was obvious." he said.

"If you knew, why did you leave the kids to handle it?" Tazuna sneered.

"I could have taken them out right then, but I would have gained no information. I needed to know if they were after us, ninja attacking ninja, or..." he said and gave him a pointed look.

"What?!" he said.

"If they were after you." he finished. "These two are rogue chunin from the Village Hidden in the Mist, known to be persistent in fights, to keep going, no matter the cost." he said. "So tell me, why are these two coming after a simple bridge builder?" he said. "When you hired us, you said we would be protecting you from highwaymen and such, not ninja's. I'm sure you have your reasons, but lying to us is not acceptable. We are now beyond the scope of this original mission." he said.

"We're genin... we can't handle a mission that's going to be tough." Sakura said, Sasuke sent a glare to her. _Maybe you can't._ He thought, Naru and Mamoru came up listening.

"I'm... I'm sorry." Tazuna said. "I will explain everything, if you all will stay." he said, Kakashi looked at his team then at Naru for a few seconds longer and sighed.

"Alright." he said.

Two hours later the team with Tazuna were sailing in a small boat across the water hidden in the thick mist.

"Wow...it's so huge." Sakura said looking up at the bridge. Naru sighed sadly and shivered at the cool air. Sasuke was looking around. "This fog is so thick you can't see anything." she whispered.

"The bridge isn't far now, our destination is just ahead." the owner of the small boat said quietly.

"Alright Tazuna-san, before we reach the pier, I want to ask you something. The men who are after you, I need to know why. If you don't tell us, I'm afraid I will have no choice but to end the mission when we drop you ashore." Kakashi said.

"I guess I have no choice but to- no I want to tell you. Like you said this is beyond the scope of the original mission, the one who seeks my life is a very short man, who casts a long and deadly shadow."

"Hmm? Who?" Kakashi asked.

"You know him, at least I know you've heard his name, one of the wealthiest men in the world, Gato."

"Gato? The Gato? Of Gato transport?" Kakashi said, they blinked confused. "He's a business leader, everyone knows him." "Who is he?" Naru asked.

"Gato is a very powerful tycoon from a famous company true, but underneath the surface he uses ruthless methods to take over nations, he sells drugs and contraband, using gangs and ninja." Tazuna sighed. "It was one year ago when Gato set his sights on the Land of Waves. He used his wealth to take control of the shipping, taxing anything going in or out of the island. Anyone who tried to stand in his way, were just taken care of." he said somberly. "He controls everything about us because we're a small island, but he does fear the bridge because it will open it up for us to take control again." he said and sighed. "I am the bridge builder."

"So, you're standing in this gangster's way." Sakura said. "So, those two from before were working for Gato?" Sasuke asked.

"If you knew how dangerous this was, and that he would send ninja, why did you hide that?" Kakashi asked. "The land of Waves is a small, poor nation. We could barely afford a C-rank, anything higher, it wasn't possible." he said. "If you end this mission when you drop me ashore, I will be murdered and the bridge will never be finished, they'll kill me before I can even make it home." he said. "But don't feel bad!" he said and chuckled. "Of course my sweet little grandson will be upset, he'll cry 'Granddad! I want my granddad!' and my daughter will condemn the ninja of the Leaf Village blaming you for abandoning her father and will live her life in sorrow." he said, they groaned a little at the guilt he was pouring in the whole story.

_'Nice...'_ Naru thought.

"Well, I guess we have no choice, we'll have to keep guarding you..." Kakashi said with a smile.

"Really?! You will?! Oh thank you so much!" Tazuna beamed. _'I win!'_ He thought.

"We're almost there." The boat operator stated.

They went through a tunnel and landed on the bridge, they all got off the boat and sighed.

"Okay take me home and I mean get me there in one piece!" Tazuna ordered, Naru almost scoffed. _'Jerk.' _She thought.

"Right." Kakashi said. _'The next ninja they send won't be chunin, but Jonin, an elite with deadly skills.'_ Kakashi thought.

They walked through the path in the woods, Sakura was trying to get Sasuke to talk to her. Naru was listening carefully, there was rustle, and she reacted quickly shooting a kunai into the brush. Everyone else jumped and gasped.

A small, but terrified, Rabbit quickly hopped out of the brush.

"NARU YOU BAKA! YOU ALMOST KILLED A RABBIT! HOW COULDN'T YOU SEE THAT!?" Sakura shouted at her.

_'That's a snow rabbit, their fur is only white in the winter... so they're already here.' _Kakashi thought and glancing around.

A tall figure watched from the trees with a smirk. _'The copy ninja eh? Maybe this won't be boring after all.'_

"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" Kakashi yelled spinning around, Sasuke shoved Sakura down, Kakashi pushed Tazuna down and Mamoru dropped down with Naru.

A large blade flew just where their heads had been, slamming into the tree and a man landed on it and looked at them over his shoulder.

"Zabuza Momochi the Demon of the Mist." Kakashi said. "Rogue ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist." he said and walked closer.

_'Who is he?'_ Naru thought as she stood next to Mamoru.

"Well, if we will be fighting, I'm going to need this…" Kakashi muttered and pulled his hatai-ate up, revealing his left eye that was a sharingan.

"Sharingan." Zabuza chuckled. "It's too bad, but you'll have to hand over the old man." he said.

"Quick, manji formation, protect the bridge builder and stay out of this fight!" Kakashi said, they surrounded Tazuna all held kunai in their hands waiting.

"I get to see the sharingan in action, what an honor." Zabuza said chuckling.

"What the hell is it?" Naru asked.

"A rare power that resides in the eye. The user of this Doujutsu can instantly see and understand any genjutsu, ninjutsu and taijutsu, and they can reflect it back on the attacker. The Sharingan is a rare form of power, but there is much more to it." Sasuke said.

"You only scratched the surface boy, the sharingan can analyze an opponent's technique and then copy it down to the smallest detail." Zabuza said. "You were in our bingo books Kakashi, we were ordered to destroy you on sight. The man who copied over 1000 jutsu. Kakashi the Copy Ninja."

_'Whoa...' _Naru thought.

_'The sharingan is a rare trait that only occurs in the Uchiha clan, my clan! Could he be -?!' _Sasuke thought looking at him.

"Enough talking, time to finish this." Zabuza said, Kakashi stepped in front of his team and Tazuna. "So, I have to kill you first Kakashi? Alright." he said and jumped with his sword and landed on the water.

"He's standing on the water!" Sakura said.

"Hidden Mist jutsu!" Zabuza said, the mist around them thickened and he disappeared.

"Sensei!" Sakura called out scared.

"Relax! He'll come after me first." Kakashi said reassuringly.

"Who is he?" she asked.

"Zabuza, he is the ex-leader of the Hidden Mist Assassination group. He's a master of the silent killing technique." Kakashi informed them.

"Silent?" Naru asked.

"As it sounds, it happens instantly, without any sound or warning, you pass through this life so fast you don't even know what happened." he said. "The sharingan cannot fully stop it, so don't lower your guard." he said. "Well, if we fail, we only lose our lives." Kakashi said.

"How can you say that?!" Sakura snarled, Mamoru smirked a little and looked around carefully, Naru closed her eyes.

"Eight points." Zabuza's voice sounded, they gasped.

"What was that!?" Sakura said.

"Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian arteries, kidneys, heart." he sounded again. "Now which will be my kill point?" he said, they gasped, Naru shook a little, her heart beating faster and faster.

Kakashi's chakra flared and the mist cleared a little around them, Sasuke stared at his back shaking in fear.

_I feel like I can't breathe, one little breath it will draw him to you, it's suffocating! If this goes on, I'll go insane! I can't do it! _He thought and turned his kunai to his stomach._ I'd rather-_

"Sasuke!" Kakashi barked, he jumped. "Calm down! I'll protect you all with my life, I will not allow my friends to die! Trust me." he said giving a smile over his shoulder.

"I wouldn't bet on it." Zabuza said suddenly appearing right in the middle of them all. Naru spun around with her kunai and hit him. He groaned in pain, Kakashi turned and saw Naru had stabbed Zabuza in the stomach, they gasped and stepped back. Mamoru smirked as Naru kept her eyes shut, she let her kunai go and jumped back as the Zabuza there turned to water.

"Well Kakashi, it seems that at least one of your brats isn't incompetent. Maybe I will let her live and take her with me after I kill the rest of you." Zabuza said.

"Sensei!" Sakura cried, Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi and sliced, he gasped as he was cut clean in half but turned to water.

_'The water clone jutsu, it can't be...'_ He thought and growled then blinked as Kakashi appeared behind him with a kunai at his throat.

"Now it's over." he said.

"Way to go!" Sakura cheered, Naru took in a breath and gulped, Mamoru growled.

"Really?" he chuckled, Kakashi gasped as he appeared behind him, the one in front of Kakashi turned to water.

"A clone..." Naru whispered.

Kakashi ducked as Zabuza swung his blade, it hit the ground and Zabuza flipped up and kicked Kakashi hard sending him flying through the air.

"Now!" Zabuza barked and ran after him, he skidded to a stop seeing the spikes Kakashi put down. "Spikes, trying to slow me down, foolish." he said and jumped in the air, Kakashi hit the water and came out coughing.

"Sensei!" Sakura called.

_'He got kicked so easily, how strong is this guy?'_ Naru thought nervously.

Kakashi looked at the water and frowned. _'This water is dense… heavier than it should be...' _he thought.

"Fool!" Zabuza barked, Kakashi gasped turning as Zabuza ran through signs quickly and Kakashi was lifted from the water in a ball of water, he struggled to get free but couldn't.

_'Escaping in the water was a bad idea.' _He thought.

"This prison is made of water, but its stronger than steel." Zabuza chuckled. "Hard to fight when you can't move. So much for the great Kakashi, I'll kill you later, first your little friends must be killed." he said and formed hand signs with one hand and a water clone pulled up. They gasped.

"You think wearing those headbands make you ninja? When you've hovered between life and death so many times it doesn't faze you, then you can call yourself ninja. When you've become so deadly you're in my bingo book, then you can call yourself ninja. But to call upstarts like you ninja is joke!" he barked, the mist rolled in, Naru gasped and closed her eyes._ 'I can't sense him!'_ She thought in a panic. All of a sudden she cried out as she was kicked in the stomach and rolled along the ground. Her hatai-ate came free and hit the ground and Zabuza stepped on it. "You're just brats!" He barked.

"Naru!" Sakura called, Mamoru growled and ran over to Naru, she sat up slowly and wiped blood from her lip.

"Listen! Get the bridge builder and run! You can't win this fight!" Kakashi yelled. "He's using all of his power to keep me in here, so he can only fight you with the water clone, but the clone can't go far from the original! If you get away from him he can't follow! Run!" he ordered.

_'Run away?! No! Not an option!' _Sasuke thought. _That became impossible the moment you were caught. No matter how fast we run, or how far we go, he'll find us and kill us. If we do a Manji formation, he can get around it easily, in the end if we're going to survive- we only have one option, rescue you!' _He thought.

"We've got to do it!" Sasuke yelled charging forward throwing shuriken and kunai. Zabuza snorted and deflected them with his sword, Zabuza smirked as he launched at him.

_'Way too easy.' _He thought and reached out, he grabbed Sasuke by his throat and threw him to the ground.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried out, Naru panted and gulped, she bit her lip.

_We've got to think of something... _she thought holding Mamoru, he looked at her. "Ready?" he said, she nodded and made a series of clones, they launched out at him.

"Naru no!" Kakashi barked.

"Naru you Baka!" Sakura snarled.

Zabuza snorted as they jumped over him and sliced at the clone, he spun around knocking them all back, Naru skidded on the ground and panted. Mamoru skidded to a stop, Naru got up slowly and pulled her hatai-ate up and put it on her head again.

"You can put this in your stupid bingo book." Naru said, Mamoru smirked. "The ninja who's going to be a great ninja is Uzumaki Naru! Count on it!" she said, he snorted.

"What can a weakling like you do?" he sneered, Naru frowned._ 'If I got the distance correct, I can use that jutsu and it'll take them both out...' _She thought.

"What are you doing?! I told you to run!" Kakashi barked. "Your mission is to protect the bridge builder, not show how brave you are! Now take off!" he snarled.

"Bridge builder?" Naru asked.

"I guess this all happened because I wanted to live so badly..." he said and looked down, he looked up. "I won't let that stop you! Do what you have to do to save your sensei! Forget about me!" he said, Naru smirked.

"Sasuke! Come here!" she said, he ran over to her. "I got an idea." she whispered and leaned in closer blocking her lips so Zabuza couldn't tell what she was saying. Sasuke's eyes widened.  
"But-" "It'll work!" she said, he sighed and nodded. "Mamoru." she said, he nodded and got ready to pounce. "Be careful." she said, he nodded and ran forward, Zabuza smirked as Mamoru launched at him, he got ready to slice his blade, but Mamoru disappeared in a bolt of lightning, he stumbled back in shock and looked around, he heard a roar and spun around just as Mamoru appeared and sliced through him, he dropped to a puddle of water, Zabuza growled.

"Now!" Mamoru ordered and disappeared.

"Sasuke!" Naru barked, he ran forward and took in a deep breath and ran through the hand signs. Horse, Tiger, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse and Tiger. Sasuke let out the air creating a large ball of fire straight towards Zabuza.

"What's that supposed to do!?" he snarled.

"Now!" he said and dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way, Naru ran forward.

"Gale palm!" Naru yelled and clapped her hands, a large gust of air shot out and hit the fire shooting it straight at Zabuza, Kakashi watched in shock.

"WHAT?!" Zabuza snarled as the now large ball of fire, empowered by the wind barreled towards him. When it reached him he cursed as he jerked his hand out of the way and jumped out of the way. The jutsu faded, Naru panted and shook a little, Sasuke walked up with a smirk.

"Nice going." he said, she smirked. Mamoru bumped her up on his back, she held on. Zabuza growled and got ready to run but stopped as he was met with a kunai to his throat and Kakashi stood there, he was soaked to the bone and his sharingan was shining bright, Zabuza gasped in fear seeing the eye.

"That was an excellent plan Naru, Sasuke!" he called.

"Stupid brats." Zabuza growled.

"Your technique worked on me once, but it won't work again." he said.

Zabuza jumped away from him, Kakashi followed him perfectly with his sharingan, Zabuza growled and began to make hand signs and Kakashi followed perfectly.

"Ushi, saru, u, ne, i, tori, ushi, uma, tori, ne, tora, nu, tora, mi, ushi, hitsuji, mi, i, hitsuji, ne, jin, saru, tori, tatsu, tori, ushi, uma, hitsuji, tora, mi, ne, saru, u, i, tatsu, hitsuji, ne, ushi, saru, tori, jin, ne, i, tori." they both said at the same time.

Water bubbled up and formed into two water dragons, they smashed into each other and Kakashi blocked Zabuza's blade, locking them both in a still battle, Kakashi growled as he blocked the large sword.

_'Something isn't right!'_ Zabuza thought. _'The sharingan can comprehend and replicate the enemies jutsu... however, both jutsu occurred at the same time. Could he-?' _He thought.

Both jumped away from each other, a masked figure stepped on a tree watching the fight carefully.

Both jounin ran around, Kakashi mimicked him perfectly, they stood across from each other, Zabuza made a sign and Kakashi followed, Zabuza held his hand up and Kakashi did as well, Zabuza gasped in shock.

"He's not just copying him, he's moving the same way at the same time." Tazuna said, they waited watching the fight.

"How's he doing that Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

_'My movements, its... it's as if he knows what I'm-'_ "Going to do next?" Kakashi said, Zabuza growled.

_'Is he reading my mind as well!? He looks at me with that eye...'_

"It makes you furious doesn't it?" Kakashi said.

"All you're doing is copying me like a monkey!"

"You can't beat me with cheap tricks! I'll crush you!" both said, Zabuza growled, the vein in his forehead pulsed.

"When I'm finished with you, you'll never open that monkey mouth again!" Zabuza said and began to make some hand signs which Kakashi copied, Zabuza blinked in shock as he watched a clone of himself appear behind Kakashi.

"Water style: giant vortex jutsu!" Kakashi called.

"What?!" Zabuza said, water shot out and tossed him around._ 'Impossible! I was about to create a vortex but he made it first!' _He thought, the team cried out as they were pushed back by the tossing water.

Zabuza slammed into a tree and slumped, he cried out as kunai became embedded in his arm's and leg's, Kakashi jumped on a branch and looked at him.

"It's over." he said.

"How? C – can you see into the future?" he asked.

"Yes, this is your last battle." he said and held a kunai up. "Ever!" he said.

Suddenly two senbon launched out and struck Zabuza in the neck. He grunted and slumped to the ground. Kakashi gasped and turned to see the masked figure standing in a tree.

"You're right, this was his last battle." he said, Kakashi jumped down and checked Zabuza's pulse but it was gone.

"Dead…" he said. The team came up watching the confrontation confused. "By your mask, you must be a hunter ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist." Kakashi said.

"You're well informed." he said. "I've been tracking Zabuza for a long time and waiting for the perfect time to take down." he said.

"A hunter ninja..." Naru started to say. "Don't you know anything?!" Sakura snarled.

"I wasn't asking!" Naru barked back, she blushed a little and looked down. "I know! They are ninja who go after rogues to take them out to make sure their village secrets are kept secrets." she said.

"You're well informed." he said. "I am a member of the elite tracking unit of the Hidden Mist, it was my duty to kill Zabuza." he said.

_'By his voice, he couldn't be any older than Naru...'_ Kakashi thought. _'He's no ordinary kid, but what is he?'_ He thought.

"What gives you the right?" Naru asked.

"Easy Naru." Kakashi said.

"No! We just fought with all of our might and he takes him down like it was nothing!" she said. "All we were doing was fumbling around." she said, Sasuke glared at the dirt completely agreeing with Naru.

"You must accept it, there are kids that are younger then both of you, even stronger than Me." he said and ruffled her hair a little. She grumbled.

"Your struggle is over for now. I must deal with the remains." he said jumping down. "There are many secrets that can't fall into the wrong hands, please excuse Me." he said and lifted Zabuza's body on to his back and disappeared, Mamoru glared.

_'Something's not right...' _he thought.

"He's gone?" Sasuke said then growled, Sakura looked down, and Naru sighed.

"As ninja, the things we face are never easy, so save your anger for the next fight, we still haven't completed our mission, we still have to get the bridge builder to his house." he said.

"Sorry for all the trouble I caused!" Tazuna chuckled rubbing his head. "But you can rest up at my house!" he said.

"Alright! Let's get moving!" Kakashi said and fixed his hatai-ate over his eye again, Naru and Mamoru walked next to him, he grunted and tipped forward, Naru gasped as she heard the thump.

"Sensei!" Sakura called, they ran up to the man, but he was completely unconscious.

"Sensei?" Naru asked.

* * *

_**What did you think about Naru's battle? New chapter will be up... sometime**_

_**Don't forget to leave you words of Love and Devotion in a review ;)**_

_**Also don't forget to Favorite this story as well!**_


	7. Land of waves part 2

Our Journey in the Land of Waves continues!

Story by Babywolf-Lover

Beta by Vandar93

* * *

_**Ch.6 Land of Waves Part 2**_

Kakashi groaned and opened his eyes and winced at the bright room that looked like it was spinning. _'I think I over did it...'_He thought.

"Waking up are we? How are you feeling?" A woman with black/blue hair stood there with her hands on her hips.

"I've been better." he said sitting up with a groan. "It'll be about week before I can move normally again." he said.

"Uh huh, that's exactly why you shouldn't move." she said, he sighed and nodded.

"Yeah." he said and went to lay back down but the door opened and Sakura came in.

"Sensei's up." she said, everyone came in and sat down next to him, he sighed. "Listen sensei. Your sharingan is amazing and all, but if it weakens you this much, then maybe you shouldn't use It." she said.

"Sorry." he said.

"Well, you did take down one of the most powerful ninja assassins, so we'll be safe for a while at least." Tazuna said. "What about that boy though? Who was he?" Sakura asked.

"He's a hunter-nin from the Village Hidden in the Mist. Hunter-nin specialize in tracking down rogue shinobi, those who make it into these ranks the elite ninja." Kakashi said.

"What does he do?" She inquired. "The Anbu black ops are also known as the Inferno Squad. They destroy all traces of a rogue ninja's corpse. The Shinobi's body contains many secrets such as ninjutsu, chakra, medicines used on his body. These are the secrets of his village, if his enemies find them, his village will be in grave danger. For example if I were to die at my enemies hands, they would try to analyze my sharingan, in the worst case, my entire technique could be stolen and used against our village. It is the sacred duty of the Hunter-nins to prevent this, keeping the village secrets safe. If a ninja betrays his village, the hunter ninja hunt them down and eliminate him and obliterate his very existence, that's there specialty." he said and frowned a little. _'But why do I have this feeling?' _He thought and held his head.

"Sensei?" Sakura asked, he shook his head and blinked a few times. "What's wrong?" "I'm not so sure we're out of the woods yet." he said.

"What do you mean?" Naru asked.

"This, Zabuza is still alive." Kakashi said flatly.

"WHAT?!" Tazuna and Sakura screeched, Naru sat in shock, Sasuke frowned. "How do you know?" Naru asked.

"You checked his pulse!" Sakura said.

"Think back to what that hunter ninja did with Zabuza's body?" "I don't know..." Sakura said.

"He picked it up, even though Zabuza was so much bigger than the boy, he made sure to take his body with him. And what did he use to take him down?" Kakashi asked.

"Senbon..." Sasuke said and sighed.

"Senbon is used in medical jutsu's, and if taught right, it can be used to paralyze, that also mean it can paralyze the heart making it look like he was in a death like state, when he actually wasn't." Kakashi said, Mamoru snorted.

"So... what do we do now?" Naru asked.

"We train." Kakashi told them.

"How?! You can barely move!" Sakura protested.

"I can still train you." Kakashi said.

"A little last minute training won't make us strong enough to battle Zabuza!" she snarled.

"But it will help improve you." he said. "Your teamwork has improved, Naru and Sasuke, that was amazing teamwork." he said, Sasuke smirked and Naru gave a small smile looking down slightly. "The more you train, the better it will be." he said, they nodded.

"No it won't!" a small voice said, they turned and looked at a small boy standing there. He wore a pale shirt with green overalls and he had big white hat with blue stripes on his messy black hair.

"Inari! Where have you been?" Tazuna said. Naru stared in the direction of the voices and then slowly looked down.

"Grandpa!" he yelled and hugged Tazuna tight.

"Inari that was very rude! These ninja brought your grandfather home safely." Tsunami snapped at him putting her hands on her hip and gave her 'mom' stare.

"It's okay! It's okay! I'm rude to them too!" Tazuna said, they frowned.

"Well it's true mom! These ninja are just going to die!" he said.

"We're stronger then you know kid." Naru said breaking the shinobi's silence.

"Yeah right! You'll be killed instantly!" he said. "You're all fools!" he said, Sasuke scowled at him. "If you want to live then you need to just leave now!" he said.

"You're the fool." Naru said.

"You couldn't do anything! Gato will destroy everything!" he said. "It's pointless, you're ignorant!" Inari shouted.

"You don't know what I can or can't do." She said and stood up, Mamoru got up. "The only ignorant one here is you." she said and walked out with Mamoru. Kakashi frowned as he watched her walk out holding Mamoru's collar, Inari glared at her as she left, he huffed and stomped out ignoring his mother's call of his name.

Naru sat on the pier with her head down and her eyes closed. Mamoru looked at the water and licked his lips as he stared at the fish swimming. "Go ahead." She said. He looked over at her with a yearning look in his eyes. "I know you want to get some fish." she said smiling. He snorted and jumped down on the water using chakra and walked along chasing some fish. Naru chuckled and sat there, she sighed and paused as she heard some sniffling. She got up slowly and felt along the wall following the noise, she paused as she felt a window where it was coming from.

"Daddy… no… please, don't go daddy. Why?" she heard Inari's voice, she looked down and backed up slowly and headed back to where she had been.

-*o*-

_Flashback_

_9 year old Naru looked up and whimpered quietly as she looked around the dark room she was in. She sat up slowly and looked up at the group of people that had just grabbed the girl on her way back home from having her Ichiraku's supper._

_"What... what do you want?" she said crying._

_"Demon!" One spat, she looked down and started to get up, she cried out as a foot connected with her stomach, she rolled on the ground and held her stomach shaking._

_"P...please stop! You're hurting me!" she cried out._

_They surrounded the child and began to kick and tear at the girl as she cried out in fear and pain, calling for help even though it was pretty much pointless._

_They pulled back finally and laughed as the girl struggled a little, her body screaming in pain from her broken bones._

_She got up slowly and panted, blood running from her lip and nose. She heard them start moving away from her, causing her to look up in hope that they were done abusing her. When she finally looked up she realized that it wasn't over yet. The tallest and most built figure was standing over her. She whimpered in fear, he brought his hand up, it glowed with chakra and swiped his hand at her face and she screamed out._

_End Flashback_

Naru sat up with a gasp and let out shaky breaths as tears were streaming down her face. Mamoru sat up and nuzzled her gently. "Naru?" he whispered.

It was in the middle of the night. Naru was in her sleeping bag lying by the wall with Mamoru and Kakashi was on her left side with Sasuke and Sakura on the other side of him.

"Naru?" Mamoru whispered again. She shook and gripped her eyes and cried quietly. Mamoru's ears lowered, he purred and nuzzled her more. She wrapped her arm around him and hugged him and he comforted her.

Kakashi's eyes opened and he glanced over at Naru and watched Naru cry quietly into Mamoru's fur, Kakashi frowned a little. _'What is going on?'_ He thought.

-*o*-

The next morning the team woke up and went downstairs to eat breakfast, but Naru didn't join them. She sat in the room still, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them with her face was buried in them, with Mamoru right beside her.

"Naru?" Mamoru asked. She turned her head towards his voice. He saw the dark bags under her eyes showing she didn't sleep much after she had her nightmare. "What happened?" he asked.

"I had a…a dream about… that night…" she mumbled and shook her head. She got up and fixed her clothes and hair, brushing it slowly once it was up the way she liked it.

The door opened and Kakashi came in, he watched her continue to brush her hair, while Mamoru sat there watching her.

"Naru?" He asked. She blinked a few times but never looked at him.

"Yes?" She replied.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Fine." she said.

"Are you sure? You must have had a pretty bad nightmare last night." He said causing her to visibly stiffen and gulp. "What was it about?"

"Nothing." she mumbled and Mamoru took her brush and put it with her things. He walked back over and Naru climbed on his back. Kakashi grabbed her arm before she walked out, she jolted a little and Mamoru growled at him causing him to let her go.

"Naru, what's going on? You're hiding something." he said.

"No I'm not." she said with a shrug and they walked out. He frowned as she walked out.

_'__Something is definitely going on. If she won't tell me I can't do anything until it becomes an issue that affects the team. Maybe Sandiame-sama can clear things up when we get back.'_ He thought before sighing and leaving the room.

-*o*-

The team was gathered in in the woods outside the house a little ways, Kakashi had a crutch under his arm so he could be standing without collapsing.

"Alright, training begins now." Kakashi said. "Let's review chakra first." he said. "Understanding chakra is very important." he said.

"We know that." Sasuke said. "Why does it matter?"

"Sakura..." Kakashi said waving his hand to her.

"Chakra is the main source of a ninja's power. The energy has two forms, physical energy which is everywhere in the body, in each cell that works together." Sakura said. "And spiritual energy which is strengthened with training and experience. Both of these chakra must be drawn out at the same time and used together in order to perform jutsu. When both of these are used at the same time, along with hand signs, can focus and unleash the chakra." she said.

"Right on all points. Iruka-sensei taught you well." he said.

"Can we get on with training now?" Naru asked impatiently.

"Naru's right, who cares, we're already using and mastered chakra-" Sasuke started to say. "No! You have not mastered it. Maybe you can use it, but you have not mastered it. You must know how to draw out only the certain amount needed for Jutsu's... How you use it now, you are just wasting your chakra away. This means that you will run out of Chakra sooner." Kakashi said. "So, you must know how to balance the amounts of chakra, if you don't know that then its worthless and you'll end up dead." he said, Sasuke looked down a faint blush on his cheeks for being scolded.

"Okay, so how do we do this?" Sasuke asked.

"Climb a tree." Kakashi said.

"Climb a tree?!" they said, he chuckled.

"That's right, but there's just one rule." he said, they waited. "No hands."

"Huh?" Sakura asked tilting her head.

"You must be joking." Sasuke said.

"Am I? Let's see." He said, Naru slunk a little, they watched him walk to a tree and step up and walked along the tree by his feet.

"He's climbing straight up! Without his hands!" Sakura said, Naru blinked.

"Collect chakra in the bottom of your feet and use it to stick to the tree." he said as he stood on a branch upside down. "This is one way to apply the power of chakra." he said.

"Wait a minute! This is all really cute and all, but how is it going to help us fight against Zabuza?" Sakura asked.

"It's the only way to fight him Sakura. That's the entire goal of this training. You'll first learn to draw a certain amount of chakra into a certain point in your body. This can be difficult sometimes, even for advanced ninja. This training requires a subtle mix of physical and spiritual energy. The bottom of the feet are the most difficult place to do such a thing." he said. "Are you getting it now? If you can master this, you will be able to master almost any technique! - well almost any kind." he said. "This will also teach you to maintain a certain amount of chakra."

"So, exactly how do we do this?" Sasuke asked, Kakashi pulled three kunai out and threw them to the ground.

"Using those kunai, mark the area that you make it up to, and keep going higher and higher each time." he said. "At first you'll need to run at the tree until you get used to It." He said as he came down.

Sasuke and Sakura grabbed their kunai. Mamoru moved towards the kunai stopping right next to it as Naru grabbed the kunai and she slid off of him as they got to the tree, Naru put her hand on the felt the tree and let out a breath of air, Mamoru laid down out of the way to keep his eye on her, Kakashi sat next to a tree behind his three students to watch how they would do.

Sasuke ran up the tree and cursed as it cracked under his foot, he sliced the tree and flipped back and landed on the ground.

"This is fun!" Sakura said. They looked at her and saw her halfway up the tree sitting on the branch, her tongue sticking out with a smile.

"Well, someone gets this..." Kakashi said with a smile. Sasuke looked down ticked off that he was being upstaged, he looked towards Naru but she hadn't started yet.

_Dobe probably can't even- huh!?_

His inner rant was stopped when Naru put her foot on the tree and began to slowly walk up the tree, she got almost to the middle before she slipped and dropped down. Sasuke almost snarled in anger at seeing that.

_'__This is just like my training for seeing...'_Naru thought. She closed her eyes and focused on her chakra, she felt it swirl around inside of her body. She pictured her feet and sent her chakra to them. Focus on the amount, not too much and not too little, just a good size layer. She thought and touched the tree to make sure she was on point, she began to walk up the tree slowly.

Kakashi watched Naru walk up the tree easily. _'Has she had this training before? Her chakra control is excellent … even better then Sakura and Sasuke's...'_he thought wishing he could open his sharingan to take a good look at her chakra network but he was much too weak.

The team continued to practice through the whole day until Kakashi called for them to come back and eat supper and rest. As they headed back, Naru was silent, thinking about her training. _'I wonder...'_she thought.

They came in and Tsunami was already finishing up on cooking supper. Naru and Mamoru sat at the end as Tsunami passed out the plates and food together.

Naru ate slowly slightly feeling the food discreetly trying to figure out where and what the food was.

Sakura looked at Inari who was sitting the silently and looking at a picture on the wall all through supper.

"Excuse me?" Sakura asked. "Why is that picture torn? I saw Inari staring at it during supper." Sakura asked causing the boy stiffen and look away from it. "It looks like there had been someone there..." She started to say. Tsunami gave a small smile, but Inari was glaring at her. She blinked as he stood up abruptly and stormed out.

"Inari!" Tsunami called and ran out after him.

"Did I say something wrong?" she asked.

Tsunami sighed.

"The one missing from the photo his name is Kaiza, he was like a father to Inari." Tsunami told everyone. "What happened?" Sakura asked pushing the subject.

"When Gato came to the island, Kaiza tried to stand up to him. He tried to stop him from taking over the island. Well Gato didn't like that and had his men abduct him. They beat him and hung him in village. As a final message to Wave his arms were cut off -" Tazuna said. "Why?" Naru asked.

"Because he would always say that 'If you love something, protect it with both of your arms'. Gato hung him in the village and called everyone there. He killed him right in front of us, and with that, he killed the hope of this land." He said, they gasped quietly. "Inari was traumatized by it, and after that, my little grandson was never the same, that's why I am building this bridge, I won't let Gato have his way." he said, they went quiet. "Inari doesn't believe in heroes or that people can do things that don't fit them..." he said, Naru stood up, they looked at her.

"Naru?" Sakura said.

"I'll prove it to him... that people can do anything." she said. "There are hero's in this world." She said, Mamoru got up and walked out with her, Kakashi watched and smirked a little.

~o0o~

Naru laid on the ground in a field sound asleep with the sun rising slowly in the sky. A person came up wearing a pink kimono and had long black hair hanging down. He blinked as he searched for herbs around and saw Naru laying there, he walked up and looked at the hatai-ate on her head and flashed back to a few days ago when he met the girl at the end of their battle with Zabuza.

He reached out and shook her gently, she snorted and blinked. "What are you doing way out here?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm training..." she said and sat up.

"Really? Is it for something dangerous?" The stranger in the Kimono asked.

"I'm just developing my skills as a ninja." she said and smiled. "What are you doing out here?" she asked.

"Collecting some herbs, actually all around here, my friend is really sick." he said. "Want to help?" he asked and began to pick, Naru slunk a little and felt along the ground and picked one.

"This?" She asked hopefully. "No, these." he said, Naru looked down and gulped. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I... I... uh..." she stopped.

"Can you see?" he asked, she stiffened and looked away. "You're blind?" he asked, she nodded a little. "How?"

"I... Heh- I'm disliked in my village and those people attacked me." she shrugged.

"Wow, and you're still a ninja?" The stranger asked surprised. "I'm not going to let some little handicap stop me from helping people, I have something to prove to people." "What's that?" he asked and sat down.

"That even if something like being blind or not being the smartest or fastest, shouldn't stop you from doing what you want." she said.

"I see, and what is your goal in life? Why do you keep going?" he asked.

"Well, I dunno, I never really thought about it." she said with a frown. "Are you a ninja?" "Sorta." he said and chuckled.

"Why do you?" she asked.

"I fight to protect someone precious to me, so that I can help them achieve their dreams." he said. "I would do anything to help them. When someone has someone precious they protect, that's when they become truly strong." he said.

"Wow..." She said. "That's really cool." she said, he chuckled.

"Thanks." he said and smiled. "I must be going." he said, Naru sighed quietly then nodded. "Don't you worry Naru." he said, she blinked in shock.

"How did you-" "You'll become strong, really strong, I believe that." he said and walked away, Naru looked with a frown, wondering just how that boy knew her name.

She heard steps in the grass, she perked up. "It's me Naru." Mamoru said.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"Getting breakfast." he said, she chuckled and nodded, he sniffed and looked around. "Who-" "I don't know, it was some boy..." she said, he sighed and looked around carefully. "I had an idea..." she said.

"Hmm?" "I was thinking about this exercise, what if I can use it to help me see..." she said.

"How so?" "Maybe sending chakra out in waves so I can feel things around Me." she said.

"It's worth a shot, it will be difficult to master though." he said.

"One way to find out." she said and got up. "Let's give this a try before the others come." she said.

~o0o~

Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke walked out into the woods looking for their remaining teammate and so they could start training again.

"Naru! Where are you?" Sakura yelled, Kakashi spotted Mamoru sitting at the tree.

"Where is Naru?" he asked, Mamoru tipped his head up, they looked up and at the top was Naru sitting on a branch. "Congratulations Naru." he called, she shook her head and look in their direction and nodded.

Sasuke began to climb his tree again along with Sakura, Naru spent more of the time in the tree, she finally climbed back down slowly and set to focusing her chakra, Kakashi walked up to her.

"Naru?" he asked, she cocked her head. "What are you doing?" "Focusing." she said.

"Naru is something wrong?" he asked.

"How so?" she asked keeping her eyes shut still.

"Do you have a... I mean, is there something wrong that you can't move normally?" he asked.

"I can move normally." she said. "So I don't know what you are talking about." she said. "Mamoru." she said, he came up and she got on his back.

"Naru!" Kakashi barked, she flinched. "I don't like being treated like a fool... I know something is up." he said, Sasuke and Sakura watched, Naru sighed.

"Well, that's not my problem." she said. "Let's go." she said, Mamoru sighed and walked away, Kakashi gritted his teeth as he watched Naru leave.

Mamoru paused as they got to the water. "Naru..." "I know." she said and got off of him, she pulled her shoes off and walked to the water and sighed as cool water on her feet, she sat down leaving her feet in the water, she sighed as her hair blew gently, Mamoru sat there watching her. _'Oh Naru...'_ he thought.

That night everyone came in finally and ate their supper. Inari glared at Naru as she laughed a little, he took in her bruises and shook. They noticed him shaking.

"Why?" he whispered, they all looked at the boy. "Why do you do it?" He asked. Naru blinked a few times. "You're being idiots!" he yelled. "You're fighting a fight you'll never win!" He said picturing Kaiza that day.

"You're the idiot..." she said.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" he snarled. "You've never been through something so horrible and have no one by your side through it!" he snarled, Naru looked down and shook in anger, Mamoru gulped a little.

"You know what kid, you don't know anything about me, so don't act like you do! So what that happened to you?" she said, he frowned and continued to cry. "You're just a big baby!" she snarled and got up and slowly walked out.

"Naru!" Sakura snarled in anger, Inari cried and wiped the snot from his nose, Mamoru followed her quickly.

Kakashi sighed quietly as he looked at the hall where Naru left to, he looked back to Inari who was crying still, he stormed out and slammed the door shut, they sighed, Kakashi got up and walked out after him, he found Inari sitting on the dock staring out.

"Can I join ya?" he asked, Inari shrugged, Kakashi smiled and sat next to him. "Listen Inari, Naru didn't mean to hurt your feelings like that." he said, Inari sniffled. "You see, Naru, she'll know better than any of us." he said, Inari looked at him confused. "Naru's an orphan, she's been on her own her whole life and has gone through more than you know, more than any of us know... but in the time that I've been around her, I've never seen her really cry over it." he said, Inari looked at him and sniffled. "My guess is, she just got tired of It." he said and smiled at him, Inari looked down. "So, don't hold it against her." he said and got up and walked back inside leaving the boy out there to think over his words.

The next morning Kakashi check on Naru who was dead asleep and had very little chakra, he sighed and walked out informing Tsunami that he wants to let Naru stay there while he, Sasuke and Sakura head with Tazuna to the bridge.

They set out together, Inari looked at the door where Naru was and sighed quietly, he shook his head and began to help his mom clean up a little.

Naru woke up almost an hour later, Mamoru told her what Kakashi had said, she scrambled and got ready and both walked out, Tsunami gave her an apple and both headed out, Naru walked along side Mamoru, her hand on his back but was sending chakra out in waves.

"How is it going?" he asked.

"Good..." She said. "I can tell where you are and trees and things are, but its kinda fuzzy." She said and tripped on a rock.

They continued on and entered the woods, Naru paused, and Mamoru looked at her. "Naru?"

"Something... something just doesn't feel right." she said, he blinked. "I mean, I just- I dunno, I feel like we need to go back." she said, Mamoru looked around and glared at the cuts on the trees.

"Get on." he said, she nodded and jumped on his back and he took off running back to the house.

* * *

Chapters have been getting a bit longer everyone so we have been doing our best to find good ending points. Hope you are enjoying the direction the story is going in so far!

Don't forget to leave a review/comment after you finish reading.

If you haven't already don't forget to Fav/Follow this story!

Thank you all for your support! It really is truly amazing to get such positive feedback from everyone.

* * *

ATTENTION! I AM GOING ON A BREAK! I need to get away from here and everything, I don't know how long I'll be off but I'll try to make it short, but I need to get off and away from this stuff.

So I will not be answering any review, nor any PM's, I'm not going to be available, so just be patient, it should be too long but I don't know yet.

until...whenever ~Babywolf


	8. Land of Waves part 3

Newest chapter! The conclusion of the Land of Waves arc!

You'll need to do a few things before you start this chapter okay!

One-make sure you're not around someone who will think you're crazy!

Two-make sure you have a box of tissues because I can guarantee you'll be crying or close to crying!

Three-make sure you have something/someone to cuddle with!

I'm not an easy crier and I was almost in tears so yeah!

I gave warning so I'm not responsible for your emotions ;)

Beta Crying by Vandar93

* * *

_**Chapter 7. Wave Arc Part III Conclusion**_

Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna arrived at the bridge and gasped in horror as they saw the remaining builders laying on the ground unconscious.

"What's going on here!?" Tazuna said as mist started to roll in. Kakashi growled realizing the threat.

"Sasuke! Sakura!" He barked out sharply. They jumped in front of Tazuna and pulled out their kunai knowing what he needed them to do. "I knew he was still alive, he just couldn't wait for round two." he said.

"This is the hidden mist jutsu again." Sakura said with fear in her voice as Sasuke shook a little.

"Long time no see Kakashi, I see you still have those brats with you." His voice rang out from seemingly nowhere. "Pathetic! Look at that one, he's still shaking... although I see the one with potential isn't here." Zabuza taunted from the mist.

"I'm shaking…from excitement!" Sasuke said with a smirk as five Zabuza's suddenly appeared around them.

"Go ahead Sasuke." Kakashi said while keeping his eye open for the real Zabuza. Sasuke smirked and jumped in the air and sliced each of them down and they dropped into water.

"It seems your brat has gotten a little better." Zabuza said as he appeared from the mist with the hunter ninja. "Maybe you will have a rival Haku." he said.

"It seems so." he replied.

"So, I was right about you, you were is partner, but you wore the mask to fool people." Kakashi stated.

"You need to stop hiding behind that mask!" Sakura said.

"He's mine!" Sasuke said, Sakura gasped with a blush. "Hiding behind that mask like a clown! I hate guys like you the most, so stop hiding!" he said.

"You're so cool Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said.

_'Didn't I just say that?'_Kakashi thought and shook his head._'She'll never change...'_He thought.

"He is impressive, even though they are water clones and not as strong...still..." Haku said.

"So what? That gave us the advantage, now use it." Zabuza ordered.

"Right!" he said and began to spin around, Sasuke gasped as he got enclosed in a dome of ice.

"What!?" he exclaimed in shock.

~o0o~

"Inari? Come help me with the dishes!" Tsunami called into her house.

"Coming!" he replied as he made his way to the kitchen.

The front door smashed open and Inari ran out and saw two men standing there known as Zori and Waraji, each holding their own katana.

"You're Tazuna's daughter right? Sorry, but you're coming with us." Waraji said.

"Mom!" Inari said coming out farther.

"A kid?" Zori questioned.  
"Inari don't come in here! Run away!" Tsunami screamed.

"Should we take him too?" Waraji asked eyeing Inari.

"We were told only one hostage." Zori replied keeping his eye on the two.  
"Then should I just kill him?" Waraji asked as he moved towards Inari raising his Katana causing him to freeze in fear and his body to start shaking violently.

"Stop!" Tsunami yelled, they looked back at the woman. "If you touch my son I'll bite off my tongue and kill myself. You need a hostage right?! Take me and leave him alone, I will go quietly." she said, Inari looked at his mom through his tears.

"Thank your mom kid." Zori replied.

"Damn, I wanted to cut something too with this new blade." Waraji stated sadly.

"You just cut up a bunch of stuff on the way here. Hurry up and grab her. We don't want to be late getting back to the boss." he said.

Inari sank to his knees as they left, he cried hard and buried his face into his knees. _'Mom, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm too weak to protect you, I don't want to die. I'm so scared.' _He thought and gripped his arms tight.

_"You don't know what I can or can't do."_

_"The only ignorant one here is you." Naru's voice echoed in his head, he blinked._

_"Naru, she'll know better than any of us." Kakashi's voice echoed. "Naru's an orphan, she's been on her own her whole life and has gone through more than you know, more than any of us know... but in the time that I've been around her, I've never seen her really cry over it." He said with a shrug. "My guess is, she just got tired of crying because she realized that it never changes anything."_

_"You're just a big baby!"_

_"If you love something and if it's really important to you, even if it costs you your life, protect it with both your arms!" Kaiza's voice echoed._

Inari looked at his shaking hands. He then looked out the broken door and glared and got up. _'They're all so incredible, so cool, and so strong. I will also become strong! Like dad.' _He thought and wiped the tears from his eyes.

Zori and Waraji walked from the house with Tsunami tied up walking between them.

"You know, looking at how pretty you are, it makes me a little disappointed knowing what's going to happen to you. Such a waste of a beautiful body." Waraji said eying her as Tsunami slowed down in disgust.

"Walk faster." Zori barked as he shoved her.

"WAIT!" they turned around and saw Inari standing there glaring at them.

"Inari!" Tsunami called in horror.

"It's that kid."  
"You... You…get away from my mommy!" he yelled and charged at them.

"Stupid kid."

"Cut him."

"INARI!" Tsunami screamed earning a harsh punch to the gut. She gasped and fell to the dock and hit her head causing her to pass out. Inari closed his eyes as he got closer. They sliced at him but as their blades connected with him all of a sudden a log cut in three pieces hit the ground with Inari's hat on it. They gasped in shock.

"A substitution."

"Sorry for being late, but the Hero always arrives at the last minute." Naru said. They turned and glared as they saw Naru standing beside Mamoru with Inari on his back.

"Naru it's you..." Inari said as he climbed down off of Mamoru's back.

"Who else?" she said with a smile. "You're brave kid." she said.

"It's one of those puny brats Tazuna hired!"  
"Get her!" they roared and ran towards her.

"They're coming!" He said in fear. Naru threw two kunai at them which they dodged.

"Try something else!" Inari shouted in a panic.

"I did." Naru said with a smile. There was a crack as Naru suddenly disappeared. Waraji screamed as Mamoru sliced at him with his claws. "One down." He said. Naru suddenly appeared next to the other and kicked Zori in the head causing him to fall into the water below.

"Whoa!" Inari said, Naru smiled. "How did you know they were coming?" Inari asked.

"Gut feeling." she said.

"Well, I'm sorry." he said, she blinked confused. "I judged you without knowing anything." he said.

"It's okay kid." she said. "Stay with your mom, they shouldn't be any more problems." she said, he nodded.

"Naru, we need to go now." Mamoru said, she nodded and pulled out a small tanto.

"Here." she said, handing it to him. He took it and gulped.

"Thanks." he said, she nodded and climbed on and they took off into the woods, Inari watched and helped his mom into the house again.

~o0o~

Sakura and Tazuna watched in shock as Sasuke tried to fight against Haku's jutsu but was having no success. Everything that Sasuke did to try to break the jutsu did not work. Haku threw senbon at him and Sasuke screamed in pain as he was cut and stabbed by the needles. He fell to the ground shaking in pain and struggled to get up. He got to his knees and paused, spitting blood out and growling in anger.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed.

"Sakura! Pay attention!" Kakashi barked as he dodged Zabuza's swings towards him.

"Same goes for you Kakashi!" He taunted and disappeared into the thick mist. Kakashi looked around carefully trying to think where he would attack next. He gasped in shock and ran towards Sakura and Tazuna where he knew Zabuza would be.

Sasuke got up and ran towards the mirror about to punch it but he stumbled as a senbon went through his leg and it buckled as his nerves screamed in pain.

"Why do you get up?" Haku asked. "It's pointless you know." he said, Sasuke panted and glared at him, his eyes shining red. "Sharingan, so you have a bloodline limit too eh?" he said.

_'It's not perfect but... at least I can now see where I need to hit... and it's right there!'_He thought and ran towards the front as Haku got ready to take the boy down, holding three senbon in each hand and his reflection appeared in all the mirrors, Sasuke roared and launched his attack about to hit the weak spot.

Suddenly Sakura's loud bloodcurdling scream sounded, he stumbled and looked over.

_'NOW!'_ Haku thought and threw the senbon, Sasuke screamed as he hit the ground and panted, his vision blurring and beginning to fade.

_'No…I said…I wouldn't- not until I …. I... killed him. No.'_ He thought then slumped, he saw Haku appeared above him._'This is the end...'_He thought.

Sakura shook in fear as Kakashi groaned in pain and held the large cut across his torso. He glanced over at Haku's jutsu not hearing Sasuke or Haku anymore. _'What's going on?' _He thought.

"Don't worry Kakashi, your boy is done for, he's probably at Haku's mercy right now! You won't have to worry about bringing a dead student home because you will both be joining him too!" Zabuza said.

"Not Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said.

"Sakura, guard Tazuna and pay attention!" Kakashi barked as Zabuza focused and the mist on the bridge got thicker than before.

"Y... yes sir." She said and he ran into the mist disappearing from her sight, Tazuna stood close to Sakura on guard shaking._ 'Sasuke-kun... be okay.' _She prayed and bit her lip.

~o0o~

Haku pulled the kunai out that he had caught and held it. '_If he had that power the whole fight then it may have went in his favor.' _He thought. He looked at Sasuke laying on the ground still, he sighed and heard the clashes of Zabuza and Kakashi's fight.

Haku paused as he heard a faint running. He peered through his dome and the mist and saw the faint shape of someone running. He realized it was Naru coming in, he glanced back and saw movement in the mist that he knew was Zabuza battling. He smirked releasing his jutsu and stepped back leaving Sasuke on the ground there as he focused and faded into the mist.

Naru held on to Mamoru as they ran on the bridge. "I can smell them close by." Mamoru rumbled, Naru nodded. Suddenly Mamoru skidded to a stop causing Naru to nearly fall.

"Mamoru?" she asked, he growled.

"A trap." he said, he grunted as he looked around.

"What's going on?"  
"How can you consider yourself a ninja?" a voice echoed, Naru turned her head trying to find the source of the voice.

Mirrors suddenly formed around them causing Mamoru to look around in shock and growl as he watched Haku appear in the mirrors.

"It's just sad you know that?" he said.

"Who are you?" Naru growled.

"A blind ninja." he said, Naru stiffened and held Mamoru's collar tighter. "Someone who can't even live without a cat to help her? You'll never a great ninja." he said.

"Shut up!" Naru barked and gulped hard.

"I wanted to fight you since I met you the other day." he said, Naru frowned.

"Naru!" Mamoru barked and shoved her out of the way as Haku threw some senbon towards them.

"Sorry." she whispered.

"See? You'd be dead if it weren't for your pet cat." he said, Mamoru growled lowly.

Naru brought a hand towards her weapon pouch and let her chakra flow out in waves from her feet._ 'Are those mirrors?' _She thought with a frown.

"Be ready." Mamoru said, Naru nodded and pulled out a kunai and held it tight.

Haku launched some senbon out. Naru deflected them with all with her kunai, Mamoru smirked._ 'Hmm.' _Haku thought. He made his image appear all around and he shot senbon out, Naru dodged but yelped when she got cut up a few times. Mamoru growled and pulled a couple senbon from his leg.

"Are you okay?" he rumbled.

"Yeah." she said and continued to send her chakra out in waves trying to locate where her opponent was exactly._ 'I can't tell which one is him... maybe if I...' _She thought getting an idea.

She stepped back and focused. She charged forward towards Haku who got ready to counter her, but she suddenly disappeared. He looked around in shock._ 'Where did she go!?' _He thought in a panic. Naru appeared in front of the mirror he was in and punched it hard then kicked off.

She skidded back, Haku blinked as he saw a large crack in his mirror. _'Impossible!' _He thought.

"Why are you fighting? You won't beat me, even your comrade has fallen to Me." he said trying to distract her, Naru cocked her head. "What's his name? Hmm?"  
"Sasuke?" she whispered.

"Ah, yes, he fell quickly, pathetic really. It seems you have a little bit more talent than he did, but not much. I say again, what can a blind ninja do?" he said, Naru growled and threw her kunai out, Haku deflected it and Naru cried out and fell to the ground when three senbon were lodged in her leg, Mamoru jumped in front of her and roared, chakra shot out and hit Haku, the force knocked him out from his mirror, Naru got up slowly limping.

"We need to get out of here." Mamoru said.

"Yeah." Naru nodded, he ran to the mirror, he skidded to a stop as Haku appeared all around.

"No more games." he said, the dome shined and Naru screamed in pain as senbon shot out from all around repeatedly stabbing them both, Naru hit the ground and shook in pain and struggled up, Mamoru blinked and got up slowly limping, senbon needles sticking out of him in all directions.

"Why would you be fighting for someone like Zabuza?" Naru asked struggling to get up.

"Because, he is precious to me, I fight for his dreams to come true, and no one will stand in my way." he said.

_'His voice is so familiar.'_Naru thought trying place it.

Mamoru shoved Naru out of the way as senbon came out, he growled as he pulled the senbon from his paw, he snorted.

"Naru, pay attention." he growled, she nodded and gulped.

"Sorry." she said.

"You need to just give up! You won't get to accomplish your dream! A ninja like you as handicapped as you are, you'll be dead before you're 15!" he said, she growled and ran forward and punched at the mirror, Haku shot his senbon out, she dropped to the ground, Haku let out a snort, Naru got up and panted.

"Why not come out and fight us for real? Not in a mirror you chicken!" she shouted in anger.

"Why should I?" he asked, she growled a little. "Have you ever thought about your past? What caused you to be how you are now?" he asked.

"What?"  
"What happened in your past? What led you to become what you are now?"  
"I don't understand." Naru said.

"Naru, ignore him." Mamoru growled.

"Think about it!" Haku exclaimed. "You must have done something wrong in your life to be given the curse of being blind! What did you do that Kami decided to make your life a living Hell!" Haku said as he noticed her staring at him frozen in shock. "My curse was when I discovered I had a Kekkai Genkai which caused my father to try to murder me! My mother died protecting me and I ended up killing everyone else in my village." Haku shouted in anger bringing up the memory he wished he could just forget.

"SO TELL ME! WHAT DID YOU DO THAT MADE YOU LIKE THIS!? WHY DO YOU BELIEVE THAT SOMEONE LIKE YOU CAN CONTINUE ON THE ROAD YOU HAVE CHOSEN IN LIFE!?" Haku demanded.

"I…I don't know…" Naru said as she started to get teary eyed. "I don't know what I did to deserve…this." She said as she brought her hands up to her eyes and waved them in front of them. "I don't know why I have gone through my whole life being hated and ignored and rejected by everyone. It's not fair!" She shouted. "I used to be able to see until I was 9. Then I got attacked and kidnapped from my own home! I don't know what they did to me or why they did it, but it doesn't matter because the damage is done." Naru stated coldly.

"All I can do now is continue on living my life and trying to make it the best it can possibly be. For all the pain and misfortune this has caused me there was one single thing that has made this bearable for me. Because of this horrible incident in my life I got my one and only true friend Moru from it." She said reaching out for him.

Haku, realizing that his plans to demoralize her by forcing her to relive any painful memories from her past wasn't working, decided he needed to end this quickly because he noticed that her wounds were already healing from the Senbon that had nicked her. He quickly came up with a plan from one piece of precious information that she had unintentionally given to him.

He turned his attention towards the wounded Mamoru who was up on his feet but a little unsteady. Even so he knew that the large snow leopard wouldn't be easy to hit so he would need to formulate a plan.

"Naru." Mamoru whispered to her. "I have a plan that may help you win this fight. You remember back when you defended Iruka from Mizuki?" He asked.

_-Flashback-_

_"They've been lying to you your whole life Naru. Since the decree twelve years ago." Mizuki said with a smirk._

_"Wha…what decree?" Naru asked with hesitation._

_"Why everyone knows it. Everyone except you. Even right now Iruka is trying to keep me from telling you about it." He replied._

_"What is this decree? Why does everyone else know about it?" Naru questioned finally close to knowing why she was always treated the way she had been._

_"No Mizuki! It's forbidden!" Iruka shouted in a panic._

_"The decree is that no one can tell you that the Demon fox is inside you! The Fox spirit that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village has taken over your body!" Mizuki said with a giant grin on his face._

_Naru froze hearing that. 'So that's why everyone treats me the way they do. That's the reason why they did those things to me. That's the reason why I'm like this now…' She thought dejectedly._

_"Now I'm going to do the world a favor and rid you from it!" Mizuki shouted as he threw his Fuma Shuriken at Naru who had dropped her guard._

_"NARU GET DOWN!" Iruka shouted as he dove in the path of the Shuriken taking the blow that would have been fatal for Naru, earning him a nasty wound on his back._

_"Naru…" Iruka gasped. "Run." He said before he collapsed on top of her._

_Realizing the danger she was in she tried to get up but couldn't because she was trapped under Iruka's weight._

_"Well looky here. He tried to protect you and in turn succeed in trapping you so that you couldn't escape." Mizuki said with a grin. "Now with no one coming to help you there is no way you can escape this time…" He started ready his other Fuma Shuriken but suddenly had to jump back as a figure leaped out at him._

_'Hmm what a strange animal to be here in the Forest of Death. Must be something new to keep everyone on their toes.' He thought as he eyed the large Snow Leopard that had lunged at him._

_"Naru!" Mamoru shouted as he appeared next to her getting out from under Iruka. Mizuki looked over in shock realizing that it wasn't an animal that had just attacked him but a summon that had._

_She turned her head towards the direction she heard his voice come from. "Moru…Is…Is it true? Did you know what I am? Did you know that I…I am the Demon fox…" She asked him with fear in her voice._

_"Naru…you are not the Nine-tailed fox." Iruka rasped. "You are Naru…Uzumaki. Citizen of Konoha. Not the Fox."_

_"You are still conscious from that hit? I thought I had hit you in the heart. Well no matter. This time I will finish you off!" Mizuki stated as he prepared to throw his last Fuma Shuriken only to be thrown off balance from an explosion of dark chakra._

_"Don't even think about it! I will not let you hurt any of my friends!" Naru said growling as her Chakra continued to fill the air around them. As she stood there she started to notice something. She noticed that she was able to make out some figures in the immediate area around her._

_'Wait a second. What's happening! I can sorta see again!' She thought excitedly._

_As soon as she realized this she launched herself forward to attack Mizuki who was still off guard from the sudden appearance of this new dark chakra._

_Naru gave Mizuki the beating of a life time due to the boost from the Fox's power. After she had knocked him out she started to walk in the direction she saw Iruka in only for the world to fade back to darkness._

_'No. NO. NO. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!' She screamed in her mind. She tried to rush over to him before everything became dark again, just to see Iruka's face one more time. She wanted to finally see what Mamoru's face looked like._

_In her haste she wasn't paying attention to her footing and ended up tripping and falling face first in the ground breaking out in tears realizing that the last thing she saw this time before the darkness was her own two feet as she tripped and landed on the ground before she finally passed out from exhaustion._

_-End flashback-_

"Yea Moru, I remember. I was able to see again, even though it was only for a short time. But how does that help us? We were never able to get it to happen again." She asked remembering how much time she spent trying to figure out how she had been able to see again.

"Naru I think it had something to do with the Fox's chakra being released. You tapped into it without knowing it. You haven't tapped into that power since that day and we just have to find a way to get you to do it again." Mamoru said.

As he finished telling her this he realized that Haku was about to launch an attack on Naru who still had left her guard down._ 'OH NO!' _he thought as his body moved instinctively to protect her.

"NARU!" Mamoru roared as Haku launched at her, she gasped and flinched. Mamoru launched up and slammed into Haku causing him to cry out in pain as Mamoru's large claws sliced into his chest and his other knocked his mask clean off of his face while being launched backwards. Haku hit the ground and rolled back to a kneeling position clutching as his wounds.

Naru pulsed her Chakra and saw Mamoru standing in between her and Haku, who was kneeling down panting hard. "Moru! You did it!" Naru started to cheer until Mamoru suddenly fell to the ground with a solid thump.

Naru gasped and crawled forward feeling her way towards where she heard him fall. As she came up on him she ran her hands across his body feeling the various Senbon sticking out, pulling them out as gently as she could. "It's going to be okay Moru." She said to him, as her eyes started to get teary, but not believing the words herself. She heard his breathing getting softer and his chest was rising and dropping slower and getting even slower.

"Mamoru…" Naru cried and pet him gently.

"Naru…I'm sorry." he panted.

"Wh... why?" she said shaking, tears pouring down her cheeks.

"I... I'm sorry, I'm... not... - uh... not gonna be here for you anymore." he said. "At least I was able to protect you for this short time." he said.

"Mamoru! No! Don't talk like that!" she cried out and wrapped her arms around his neck, he panted and closed his eyes. "No! You can't leave me!" she cried, tears fell and hit his face, he looked up at her and panted. "I need you!" she said.

"You can do it, I know you'll be... a great ninja." he panted and gasped and slumped letting out a breath of air, Naru gasped and ran her shaky hand through his fur, she let out a choked sob when she didn't feel his chest rising, she put her head down but couldn't hear his heart beating.

"Mamoru..." she sobbed and hugged him tight, burying her face into his soft fur.

"Is …. Is this the first time you've had a precious one die in front of you? It's part of being a ninja. You need to grow up." Haku rasped getting up, Naru stayed silent while shaking. "He died because he jumped in the way. It was stupid. He threw his life away. For what!? A -"  
"Shut up." Naru growled, Haku watched, he blinked as smoke rose around her, she cried and gently set Mamoru's head down and sobbed, she growled and looked up, Haku gasped as he saw her once light blue eyes now blood red. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" she screamed as red Chakra exploded from her dispersing itself in the air around them both. Haku stumbled backwards at the sudden explosion and tried to head back into one of his mirrors.

Naru launched out with a roar and grabbed Haku. He cried out as she spun around and flung him into one of his mirrors putting a large crack in it. He fell to the ground and screamed in pain as he heard an audible snap letting him know that she had just broke some of his bones in his body.

_'What's going on? She got so much faster and it's like she can see me now!'_He thought. Naru disappeared, he looked around quickly trying to locate her only for Naru to appear above him and flip bringing her foot down on his shoulder. He cried out in pain and stumbled backwards, he looked at Naru, she growled at him, her canines were longer and cutting into her lips, she roared, he skidded back from the strength of the chakra.

_'What is she?'_ He thought. Naru ran straight at him, he blinked in shock and moved to the side, she stumbled then went after him. _'How?! She shouldn't be able to track me! She's blind!'_He thought in shock.

_'I can see him now, just like last time. Thanks you stupid fox. I'm going to use this power to kill him!'_Naru thought.

Naru fell and skidded when Haku launched senbon and it stabbed her leg, chakra began to bubble around her and the wounds on her body healed, Haku panted, Naru roared again and he froze, his body shaking in fear.

-*o*-

Kakashi panted and held his bleeding wound as he kept his guard up for Zabuza, he gasped as he felt the chakra shoot out. _'What is that chakra? Is it Zabuza? - No... I know this! It's-'_ he turned towards the area that the chakra was coming from. _'Naru... when did she get here? What's going on?'_ He thought then cursed._ 'Damn it! I need a plan.' _Kakashi thought as he suddenly sensed something. _'About damn time. Time to end this' _He thought.

-*o*-

Naru launched and tackled Haku to the ground and began to punch and slice at him with her clawed hands. He let out a blood curdling cry and then went silent. Naru panted and finally look at what she had done. She gulped hard as the smell of blood hit her nose, she stumbled back and emptied her stomach. She let out a whimper and she felt the fox's chakra slowly start to fade. She sent some chakra out and crawled slowly towards Mamoru, where her chakra was bouncing off his location. She cried and fell to her knees and buried her face into his soft fur. "Mamoru..." she whimpered.

-*o*-

Zabuza yelled in pain as he was sliced with a sharp blade, the mist began to clear slowly and he looked to see Kakashi standing in front of him and behind stood another jounin with trench knives shining with chakra.

"About time Asuma." Kakashi said, he snorted.

"You seemed like you were in over your head." he said, Kakashi pulled out his kunai.

"Let's end this fast. I know you felt it too. We need to see what is happening right now." he said, Zabuza looked around and snorted as he saw Haku's body lying on the ground and blood leaking everywhere.

Kakashi and Asuma shot out, he swung his blade towards Kakashi, he dropped down and Zabuza growled in anger as Asuma sliced his arm, Kakashi kicked up and Zabuza sailed through the air and hit the ground hard, his blade sliding across the cement.

"SASUKE!" Kakashi heard, he looked and saw Sakura bawling over the Uchiha laying on the ground.

"Shikamaru, Kiba, Hinata! Help them and defend the bridge builder." Asuma said, the three ran out to check on the Sakura and Sasuke.

Zabuza got up slowly stumbling and groaning in pain, he panted and glared at the two jounin.

"I'll destroy you!" he said and ran towards them roaring. Suddenly they heard the tapping of a cane. Zabuza stopped mid charge and turned to face a small man in a business suit looking at them.

"Well, well, well Zabuza, it seems you're having a problem here." he said and chuckled, there was a large group of thugs standing behind him.

"What is this Gato!?" he snarled.

"Simple, you're too expensive, so I decided to take you off the payroll." Gato replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.  
"What?!" he snarled.

"That's right. You've taken too long and look at you, you look as demonic as a wet kitten." he said. "But even these thugs cost a good amount, so if you can manage to take some of them out before you die, I'd appreciate it." he said and chuckled.

"Alright Kakashi, it seems I'm not his employee anymore, so our fight is over." Zabuza said.

"Yeah." Kakashi said.

Zabuza groaned and stepped forward, he grabbed his blade, just barely able to hold the heavy blade with his wounded arms. He glared at Gato and ran forward. The man screamed and ran away from him.

"Kill him!" he screamed, they cheered then gasped as Zabuza's chakra shot up, they froze then screamed as he ran through them slicing them clean in half, a few stabbed the man making him stumble Gato stopped at the edge of the bridge and watched in slow motion as Zabuza ran towards him.

"He's the devil!" he screamed, Zabuza roared and sliced, he cut him in half then groaned and fell to the ground still, the remaining thugs stared in shock at the sight and then started to flee. If a badly wounded Shinobi could do that, they wouldn't want to fight one who looked ready for battle while the other looked slightly tired.

Kakashi and Asuma watched in shock of the scene. "Sensei!" Shikamaru called, both shook their head and headed over to the group they could just barely see through the mist.

They came up, Kakashi looked down as he saw the Uchiha laying on the ground. Asuma sighed.

"Where is Naru?" Shikamaru asked looking around in a panic. Hinata focused and activated her Byakugan.

"There!" she pointed then gasped and looked down.

"What?!" Kakashi asked, they peered and saw Naru sitting next to Mamoru still running her hands through his fur shaking him. Kakashi cursed and looked away shaking in anger.

"Sakura, it's hard to breathe with you on top of Me." a voice rasped, they gasped and looked at the Uchiha laying there blinking, Sakura cried out and hugged him, he groaned in pain.

-*o*-

"I can't be without you Mamoru. Maybe... what he said... is... it true, maybe I could have done something to stop them that night..." she said. "Then we wouldn't of met... and you... you wouldn't of died for me..." she cried and hugged him again. "I can't be alone." she said and shook. "Not again." she said and sobbed in his fur and let out a scream of anger and sadness.

"Naru!" she heard Hinata's voice say, she ignored it and sat up slowly. "I'd rather die than be without you." she said and took in a shaky breath and gulped hard, she grabbed her kunai with a shaky hand and sniffled.

"I won't do this close to you. I know you hate bloodshed." she said and let out a shaky breath, she got up slowly and backed up a few steps.

"Naru!" Shikamaru's concerned voice rang to her ears.

"I'll see you soon Mamoru." she said and grabbed the kunai with both hands and pointed it to her stomach.

"NARU!" Kakashi yelled in horror lunging towards her as he saw what she was planning on doing. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath and heard them running towards her. Everything seemed to slow down as she gulped and brought the Kunai down towards her stomach...

-*o*-

They all looked at Naru as she screamed, Sakura helped Sasuke up and they looked towards her.

"Naru!" Hinata called trying to get the girl's attention but she ignored them.

"Did Haku take him down?" Asuma asked, Kakashi looked at his broken student crying her eyes out, she stood up and backed up.

"Naru!" Shikamaru yelled.

Naru closed her eyes and grabbed the kunai and pointed it towards her stomach, Kakashi gasped in horror seeing what she was about to do.

"NARU!" he yelled, they ran towards her but she brought it closer to her stomach.

They stopped when Naru abruptly stopped moving, the kunai mere inches from stabbing herself. Everyone froze and looked at Shikamaru standing there, his shadow stretched out and connected to Naru.

"Good job Shikamaru!" Asuma said with a smirk.

"LET ME GO SHIKAMARU!" Naru screamed. "I can't live without him! I don't want to be alone again!" she sobbed and shook, Shikamaru held his hand out making Naru do the same. "NO SHIKAMARU! DON'T STOP ME! LET ME GO BE WITH MORU! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE ALONE!" Naru screamed while tears were flowing down her face. He opened his hand, the kunai from Naru's hand dropped to the cement, she sobbed and struggled to get free from his shadow.

He walked forward and she did the same towards him while she kept struggling and sobbing. He finished walking towards her as she continued to scream at him to let her go. He dropped the jutsu and immediately grabbed her pulling her into a hug.

"LET ME GO SHIKA! LET ME BE WITH MAMORU!" Naru sobbed as she started to pound her fists on his back.

Realizing that he wasn't going to let her go she completely broke down and started to sob even harder into his shoulder.

"He died for me! I can't live without Mamoru! I won't!" she said and shook.

"Stop Naru." He said and held her. He looked at the large cat laying on the ground, he closed his eyes and listened to Naru's sobbing, she began to push against him, he held her tight stopping her movements, she bawled even harder.

"Naru, you're not alone." he whispered. "I'm here for you. You won't be alone." he whispered, he glanced back and saw both teams standing there watching, she cried louder and screamed.

"NO! I hate you! Leave me alone! I want to die! I can't be without him!" she screamed.

"Naru."  
"NO!" she said, he grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

"Stop it!" he barked, she stopped and blinked in shock never actually hearing Shikamaru yell before. "If you end your life right now then his sacrifice was for nothing!" he barked. "Mamoru gave his life for you! For you to keep going!" he said, Naru gulped then hung her head and shook her head.

"He's the only one I..." she stopped and cried, he hugged her again.

"You troublesome idiot. I already told you that you won't be alone." he whispered, Hinata came up and touched her shoulder and hugged her, she sobbed.

"You won't be alone Naru, I promise." Hinata whispered in her ear.

"Come on, we'll say goodbye." Shikamaru said and got up slowly pulling Naru with him, she hugged him and he walked with her over to Mamoru, Kakashi watched, his throat burned from the feeling of tears he was holding back.

Shikamaru stopped at Mamoru's body, he gently let Naru slide down to her knees. She sobbed and covered her face and shook her head.

"I can't..." she sobbed, he sighed and blinked a tear fell to the ground, he looked at Naru again then at Mamoru and blinked in shock as he saw the snow leopard's chest rising and falling a little, he crouched down and looked at Mamoru's face, his eyes opened a little and he blinked a few times.

Shikamaru gasped quietly, Naru let out a shaky breath and reached out to pet him again, his tail came up and tickled her nose, she giggled and rubbed it, she gasped and grabbed his tail, he let out a small purr and tickled her nose again like he use to do when they first met a few years ago when she was getting used to being blind.

"M…Moru?" She pleaded, hoping that what she thought happened actually happened. Mamoru groaned and stirred trying to sit up.

"Naru." he purred, she cried out and launched at him, he groaned in pain as she hugged him crying into his fur. "That hurts Naru-chan." he said letting his tail tickle her again, she sobbed and held him.

"I thought I lost you." she sobbed, he sighed curled his body around her, she held him and snuggled against his side.

~o0o~

Almost a week and a half later both teams were still resting at Tazuna's house, Naru was barely leaving Mamoru's side and was practically fussing over the large snow leopard, even though she was dealing with her own wounds and low chakra.

"Naru." he purred and bumped her.

"I wanna make sure you're okay." she said feeling his bandages.

"I'm fine." he said and smiled, he got up and stretched with a yowl and shook out.

"Where-?"

"I'm gonna get some lunch. Will you be okay?" he said.

"Yeah." she nodded with a smile, Shikamaru came in and smirked, Mamoru licked her cheek and trotted out and Shikamaru walked in, Naru looked towards him.

"It's me." he said, she nodded a little and leaned against the wall. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." she said with a small shrug, Shikamaru crouched down next to her, she looked towards him.

"Naru, we gotta talk." he said, she cocked her head, he reached out and grabbed her head with his hand squeezing her cheeks a little, she blinked in shock. "You listen to me." he said quieter and in a serious voice. "You ever try that again and you'll get it, from me." he said.

"Wha-?"

"Trying to kill yourself." he said, she slunk a little. "You are far too important to me, I don't even want to find out or see you ever try to do that again! You understand."

"I thought everything was too troublesome for you." she said with a smirk.

"Naru." he said, the smile fell. "Things may be too troublesome, but you're not." he said, she blushed a little and he smirked. "Now, if you ever need me, you come find me." he said. "Understand?" he said nodding her head, she giggled.

"Yeah." she said.

"Good." he said and let her jaw go, she smiled a little, he reached out and brushed her bangs up, she blushed darker red and he chuckled, she stuck her tongue out, he laughed and pulled back and she blushed.

Steps sounded and Sakura came in followed by Sasuke and Kiba. "What's going on?" Shikamaru asked finally looking away from Naru.

"We're going home finally." Kiba said with bit of a complaint, Shikamaru rolled his eyes at Kiba's attitude.

"Nice." Naru said and got up slowly and held the wall and walked outside, she sat on the dock. "Moru?"  
"Yeah?" he said holding a fish in his jaw, he bit down and it stopped flopping, he walked up to her.

"We're going to be heading home." she said, he put the fish down.

"Okay." he said, she smiled.

-*o*-

The next morning both teams headed out walking along the newly built bridge, Tazuna, Tsunami, Inari and a few workers walked with them, Naru had her hand on Mamoru's back, refusing to climb on his back with his wounds.

"We have a gift for Naru-chan." he said, she cocked her head looking back at him, he chuckled.

"It was my idea!" Inari said with a big grin, Naru smiled a little but her heart jumped as they said that, how would she know, Mamoru glanced at her knowing she was worried.

They arrived at the end and turned around, Mamoru looked up and smiled. "The great Naru bridge?" he said, Naru smiled with a blush.

"It's to say thanks for helping us." Inari said, she smiled.

"Thanks everyone." she said and rubbed her head.

"You better come back and visit sometime!" Inari said.

"I promise!" she said, Inari sniffled suddenly and ran forward and hugged her, she smiled and returned it.

"Thanks." he whispered, she chuckled and ruffled his hair. "H..here." he said and put the tanto in her hand that she gave him.

"Keep it." she said and winked, he took it back, she smiled and kissed his cheek, he blushed a little and smiled, she chuckled and got up.

"Alright everyone, let's get home." Asuma said, they nodded.

"Bye!" Naru waved and put her hand on Mamoru's back gently as they all waved and called their goodbyes.

The team walked along the path heading back to Konoha slowly, Naru sent chakra out as much as she could with her still somewhat exhausted chakra reserves, she grunted as she tripped on a rock and grumbled giving the ground a dirty look, Mamoru smirked.  
"Hey, hop on." Mamoru said.

"No! You're still healing." she said. "I'm fine! I said." she said with a giggle.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru said while he reached out and wrapped his arm through hers and pulled her close to him causing her to get a large blush on her face. "If you won't listen to Mamoru then I guess I'm going to have to make sure you don't hurt yourself heading back." He replied lazily.

"Yeah Naru. Like we said. We won't leave you alone again." Hinata said with a smile while she came up on Naru's other side.

Kakashi watched them from over his book. He frowned a little. Asuma looked at him, he gave him his usual smile and he looked back at Naru.

_'I think it's time I had a chat with someone…'_He thought.

* * *

So I think we worked on this chapter at least 5 times before we settled on the right idea! xD

Well. You were warned. Hope you liked the chapter! It looks like Kakashi is going to try to figure out the mystery behind Naru, or will he?

Don't forget to leave a comment/review once you are finished reading :)

Also don't forget to Follow/Fav this story.

ALSO CAN YOU JUST GO TO MY PAGE AND VOTE ON MY POLL PLEASE! :)


	9. Back home and training

In this chapter I have a memory of how Naru and Mamoru met, we'll dig deeper into their past in later chapters but this was just a start!

Beta by Vandar93

One more thing- If you are going to flame about some little thing of the story, don't bother. Its my story and if I want something to happen or not happen, then it's my choice. Don't flame, because if you do, I have NO problem adding you to my blocked list.

* * *

_**Chapter 8: Back home and Training.**_

Sarutobi blinked in shock as Kakashi spun the whole tale of what happened on their supposedly simple C-rank mission.

"Wow." Sarutobi said, Iruka stared at them with his jaw slack. "Well, I'm glad none of you are hurt." he said and his sights lingered on Naru a little longer. "I'm going to give you all a full week off." he said, they nodded. "Kakashi-kun, I'll need the mission report no later than the day after tomorrow." he said, Kakashi nodded. "Dismissed." they bowed and walked out, Naru held Mamoru's collar since she still refused to get on him.

They walked outside and Sakura headed off pestering Sasuke for a date and the Uchiha walked away ignoring her. Naru turned with Mamoru and began to head to her apartment, Kakashi stared at her then sighed. "Naru?" he asked and jogged up to her, she paused and looked at him.

"Yeah?"  
"Can we talk?" he asked.

"S...Sure." She said. He walked next to her and they continued down the road, Kakashi went silent trying to think about what exactly he was going to say so she couldn't duck out of the questions as they made it to the road that led to her apartment.

"Naru, I have to give a full detailed mission report." he said.

"Yeah." she shrugged.

"And you know I have to put how you acted and what you did."

"Acted?"  
"When you thought Mamoru here... passed." he said, she looked down and held the snow leopard tighter. "You may get checked out because of what you tried to do." he said, Naru gulped and Mamoru cocked his head confused. "But I can help if you tell me what's going on." he said.

"What do you mean?" she asked, he stopped and looked at her.

"You are very dependent on Mamoru, when you thought he was gone you practically broke and tried to commit suicide!" he said, Naru gulped and heard Mamoru rumbled. "You said you couldn't be alone again, you couldn't go through this alone. You have nightmares so bad you won't sleep for the whole night after, you don't keep eye contact with anyone. You can't do simple missions but you can do advanced ones, and you always have to have someone with you." He said. She blinked in shock at everything he was saying and shook a little in slight fear. "Naru, I know you are hiding something, I'm not going to stand for it anymore. Either you explain what is going on with you or. .."

"Or what?" she asked, anger bubbled in her chest and she glared at the jounin.

"Or I'll have you dropped from the program." He said. Once she heard those words she froze. Naru froze in complete terror realizing that he could take away the only dream she had left in life. She was terrified because she could live with being blind, but being blind and having no goal in life was something that she knew she couldn't do.

She started to shake as her gaze went down to the ground. Mamoru knowing what was going on inside of her head sent Kakashi a glare that promised pain. His glare promised a very unpleasant neutering from razor sharp claws that MAY slip and remove a little…extra.

Naru then shot her head up, tears shining in her eyes. She brought a gaze to face Kakashi that belonged on the face of someone who had been through a lifetime of torture that caused him to freeze unsure of what was about to come out of the girls mouth.

"You want to know so damn bad?! Fine!" she said through gritted teeth. "I have been hated and treated like a disease in this village since the day I was born! Tortured for something I never did!" she barked. "I'm dependent on Mamoru because he is just about the only one to ever be here for Me." she said. "I have nightmares because of what I have been through in my life and I don't want to go through it again! Especially alone" she said and poked his chest. "So if I want to hide something from you or anyone it's because I don't like you!" she said and poked him. "I don't trust you! And I never will!" she said poking him a few times, he was in shock. "So go ahead drop me from the program I don't care!" she said and panted, Kakashi was silent, she glared at him then looked down and let out a small cry.

"Naru I didn't-"  
"Shut up and leave me alone!" She yelled. Mamoru pulled her closer, she crawled on him and he ran to her apartment. They walked in and she slammed the door shut locking it behind her. Kakashi looked down then walked away slowly thinking about her, he sighed and looked up.

_'__There is one other person...' _He thought and walked away.

~~0~~

Naru sat on the couch and slunk a little as Mamoru paced back and forward in front of her and rumbled a little.

"Suicide?!" He growled finally. She slunk more. "Naru!" he said.

"I wasn't thinking! I thought I lost you and didn't want to be alone. I couldn't be alone…" She said and looked down. He walked up and put his head in her lap.

"Don't ever try to kill yourself Naru." He said. She nodded with a small smile. "I'll swat you one if you do." He said. She giggled and he purred as she hugged him.

He crawled up on the couch with her and laid down, she frowned a little. "I wonder if I made a mistake." she said.

"About Kakashi?" he asked, she nodded.

"I shouldn't of said those things to him, if he wants to -"  
"Naru you have a right to privacy, just because he's your sensei doesn't mean he has the right to know everything about you." he said, she frowned then nodded. "There is only so much you can take." he said, she nodded then felt the bandages he still wore.  
"Are you okay?"  
"I'm fine." he chuckled. "I'm a fast healer." he said, she smiled and nodded.

They perked up when there was a knock on the door, Naru got up and walked to it. "Yes?" she asked.

"Naru?" Sarutobi's voice sounded, she opened the door, he sighed and came in, she shut the door and followed him into the dining room and they sat down. "I wanted to check on you." he said, she nodded. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so..." she said.

"What's got you down?" he asked.

"I snapped at Kakashi today." she said, he looked at her shocked. "He said he would have me dropped from the program if I didn't tell him what was going on, and I just couldn't stop it, I snapped." she said. "Maybe... Maybe I'm not ready for...-"  
"You are." Sarutobi said and touched her hand. "Kakashi couldn't have you dropped for not telling him something." he said. "You had a breakdown because of Mamoru's apparent death." he said.

"I didn't have a breakdown, well I mean I did! But I mean, I... I tried to kill myself." She said trying to shrink away from him. Sarutobi stared at her in shock. "I wasn't thinking straight and I thought he was gone and the thought of being alone again, I just…I…I couldn't do it again." she said and blinked tears fell from her eyes, Sarutobi squeezed her hand.

"Naru, it's understandable with what you've been through." he said, she nodded and wiped her tears. "I'll tell Kakashi to back off." he said, she nodded with a shrug. "Will you be alright?"  
"Yeah." she nodded. "I just, the more he asks the more I guess the guilt, builds to where I want to tell them! But I don't want to." she said. "They call me stupid already, if they knew I was... like this? It would be worse. I wouldn't be dealing them being angry at me for being incompetent. I would have to deal with their pity for me. Always thinking that I need help." she said. "But still every time they yell at me for messing up or something, I just feel like I'm cracking." she said and looked down. "I want to get stronger so this isn't such a handicap…" she said.

"You are strong Naru." he said, she sighed and nodded a little. "But I do understand what you're saying." he said, she nodded. "Which is why I'm glad to announce that I have some brand new jutsu's and weapons." he said, she lit up. "I want to test a few things with your chakra, so on Friday, I want you to meet me in the training room." he said, she nodded, he stood up. "I have to get home now." he said and kissed her head, she smiled. "Rest up." he said, she nodded and waved as he left. She then crawled into bed and curled up with Mamoru and fell asleep.

~o0o~

The next day Naru headed to the training grounds with Mamoru so she could work on her chakra sensing some more.

"Naru." she stopped and looked back towards her former sensei Iruka.

"Hey Iruka-sensei." she said, he smiled.

"What are you up to?"  
"Gonna practice a little." she said.

"Can I join?" he asked, she nodded with a shrug.

"Sure." she said, he smiled and walked next to her. Mamoru focused his chakra and made sure that it really was Iruka, and it was.

They arrived at the training grounds and Naru went into a clearing in the woods. "So why did you wanna come sensei?" she asked.

"Well, you see." he said and sighed and started to think.

_Flashback_

_Iruka walked out of the Hokage tower with a stretch and a sigh. He was getting two days off for all of his hard work and since he had no academy students to teach at the moment he was free as a bird._

_He walked down the street heading to his apartment with a small smile on his face nodding at the villagers._

_"Iruka." he turned and saw Kakashi standing there, he beckoned him over._

_"Kakashi-san." he said and walked up to the older and sometimes intimidating man. "What can I do for you?" he asked.  
"I wanted to talk to you." he said, Iruka blinked. "It's about Naru." instantly Iruka's "maternal instincts" kicked in._

_"What about Naru?" he asked giving the jounin a small glare._

_"Well, it's just, I'm wondering if you've ever noticed anything... Strange about Naru." he said._

_'Strange? We are talking about Naru right. That girl does a lot of strange things…' He thought._

_"Strange how Kakashi-san?" He asked getting a small tick above his eye. Kakashi flinched slightly knowing he was pushing the "mother-hen" and when you pushed Iruka especially about his little Naru he was downright scary._

_"Well, I mean has she ever been unable to do something? Or move normally?" he asked, Iruka frowned. "Or did she have problems in class with things or people?" he asked._

_"Well, in her second year of classes she was loud and silly but then she pulled out of the academy for about a year. Then she was brought back to class, she became really quiet and reserved." he said and shrugged. "She grew really close to Hinata-chan and Shikamaru-kun." he said and shrugged.  
"What about problems in class?" he asked._

_"Problems how?" he asked._

_"I mean with moving? Like in taijutsu class? Or...did she have a problem learning?" he asked._

_"Yeah, she's always had a problem, she's more of hands on learner." he said._

_"So, she always failed her tests?"_

_"No, for a time she did, then she would make them up and pass easily." he said. "What is this all about Kakashi-san?"  
"Well, I know Naru has been hiding something from me- well everyone actually." he said looking down._

_"Well can you blame her?" he asked. "I'm even ashamed to say I felt that way for a time, but once you get to know her and she trusts you, you'll see she's a sweet girl who wants nothing but to be accepted." he said and smiled gently, Kakashi smirked._

_"Well, I don't think that will happen now..." Kakashi muttered._

_"What!? What did you do to her Kakashi-san" Iruka said fixing him with a glare, Kakashi sweat dropped._

_"It's not like that! I just- well I've been trying to find out what's going on with her and she snapped at me..." he said and rubbed his hair. "One more question, was Mamoru with her in class?"  
"He showed up a few times, only when they were the first to arrive, then she would show up alone but I saw him outside watching her all the time. Sandiame-sama just said he was her companion, so I figured it was like an Akamaru and Kiba case." he said and shrugged, Kakashi sighed._

_"Alright, well, if you think of anything let me know." he said._

_"Why do you want to know?"  
"If she has a disability it could hinder her in the future and put the others' lives at stake."  
"Are you trying to say you'd drop her from being a ninja?" Iruka said stepping forward, Kakashi stepped back and gulped. 'Shit.'_

_"No! I mean yes! No! Ugh! Iruka think!" he said looking at the steaming mother hen. "If Naru does have something that's going to hinder her from certain things on missions she becomes a danger to herself and others." he said.  
"Kakashi-san, Naru is nothing but capable to be a ninja, even if she had a disability or whatever she could still do it! Not everyone has to be a little prodigy!" he said, Kakashi flinched a little. "I suggest you leave her alone." he growled and stormed off leaving Kakashi there._

_End Flashback_

Iruka scratched his cheek with a blush, Naru cocked her eyebrow. "It's just, well... Kakashi-san came and talked to me yesterday." he said, Naru sighed and slunk a little. "And he said something and I was just ….. Well I've been wondering about it..." he said, she blinked. "Are you okay? I mean do you have something wrong with you?" he asked.

"I'm fine Iruka-sensei." she said and looked down. "I gotta practice." she said and walked forward. "Mamoru." she said, he nodded and jumped into the trees, Iruka backed up out of the way and Naru stood there focusing.

Naru poured her chakra out in waves and searched for Mamoru's location in the trees, she found Iruka still there. She heard a whistling and dodged quickly and moved around.

Mamoru ran out and charged her, Naru dodged it and smiled. _'It's working, I can see...'_ she thought and bit her lip.

Mamoru moved quickly and Naru was able to keep up with him dodging his swats, they stopped finally and Mamoru smiled as Naru panted but sent him a smile.

"Nice job Naru." He said. Naru smiled and straightened. Iruka frowned and watched as Naru glance around and rubbed her eyes quickly. Mamoru walked around her and his tail came up and tickled her cheek making her giggle. He sighed.

"Sensei did you still need something?" she asked.

"You wanna go for some lunch?" He asked. "I'll buy." he added. She smiled and nodded. He waited and she walked next to Mamoru but was sending her chakra out continually 'seeing' that way._ 'I'm getting better...' _She thought.

Iruka took them to Ichiraku's and they ordered lunch. Iruka looked at her. "Naru, I don't want to upset you or pester you in anyway..." he said, she looked at him and nodded. "But, if something was wrong, you'd tell me... right?" he asked, she heard the slight plea in his voice, she smiled.

"Of course I would sensei." she said and smiled. "It's just complicated." she said, he nodded a little and sighed. "And just ignore Kakashi-sensei..." she said. "He doesn't know what he's talking about." she said, Iruka smiled at her and ruffled her hair, she chuckled.

~o0o~

Friday came quickly and Naru headed to the Hokage tower with Mamoru. She followed the hall down to the stairs well below the Hokage tower and came to a familiar door that was unlocked. She slid it open and walked into the familiar room. It was a large room with a couple set of shelves on one wall and they were filled with books and scrolls, sparring supplies, a small table sat in the corner and had pillows around it. Naru pulled her shoes off and smiled as the smells in the room brought back a bunch of memories for her.

_Flashback_

_9 Year old Naru walked down a set of stairs with her hand tightly gripping that of Sarutobi as he led her to a large training room. "This is a secret room that is supposed to be for the Hokage, but I had it turned into a secret training room. No one is allowed in here without my permission, it has a lock on the door that will only be unlocked when I unlock It." he said, she nodded a little, he paused and let her pull her shoes off._

_He led her around the room letting her 'see' the room and everything. "This is where I'll have you trained. When you are in here and I am not the door will be locked and only I can unlock it, I'll work it out so you can let me know when you want to go." he said, she nodded slightly. "I was searching around and found a summoning scroll that should be perfect for you." he said, she cocked her head. "Do you remember your hand signs?" She nodded. He sighed in sadness, ever since she was told she would never see again, she had barely said two words, he tried everything but she just was silent, she didn't cry or whimper. She just did nothing. "Okay, then I'll need your blood for this." He told her. She held her hand out palm up, he nicked her thumb and opened the scroll, he spelled her name for her with her thumb on the scroll and pressed it down. "Now, focus your chakra and do these signs in order... Boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram then touch the ground." he said, she nodded and made the signs and touched the ground, Sarutobi watched as the smoke shot up._

_'Let's see who she'll have the best control over.' He thought. The smoke cleared and a snow leopard sat there, he was still growing but was slightly larger than a normal snow leopard. He wore a leather collar, an orange vest with the Uzumaki clan symbol on the back, he had bright blue eyes._

_The summoning scroll Sarutobi had Naru sign was her own clan's summoning scroll, since the Uzumaki clan was experts in seals they had a summoning contract with all types of animals and depending on your chakra that is what would determine your summon._

_He blinked at Sarutobi, he stood up and stretched with a small yowl and purr._

_'Mamoru huh?' Sarutobi thought and smirked._

_"Sarutobi-sama." he said and sat again. "What is it?" he asked._

_"I have someone who needs a companion." he said and motioned to her. He turned and looked at Naru standing there then back to Sarutobi who nodded. Mamoru blinked in shock then stood up with a smile._

_"Hello Naru-sama." He said with a small bow. She kept perfectly still not knowing what he had done._

_"H…Hi." She mumbled. He looked at her confused, she wasn't looking at him. He sent a confused look to Sarutobi._

_"There was a…incident just recently. Naru was attacked and was left blind after a damaging attack struck her eyes." he said, Mamoru growled his lips curled up showing his sharp teeth. "I would like you to stay with her and be her companion. Guard her and help her." He said, Mamoru nodded and walked closer to Naru and circled her. She followed his movements a little, albeit only when he made a loud thump on purpose causing her head to snap in the direction of the sound. He hit head to her arm gently. Naru taking the hint started to softly pet his head. He brought himself around so that he was directly in front of the girl before finally speaking to her._

_"My name is Mamoru, I will stay by your side Naru-chan." He said and she nodded. He bumped her, causing her to stutter but followed his nudges until she came to the pillows and he pushed her a little. She sat down and he curled his body around her, nuzzling her some more. She stroked him a little more causing a small smile to finally break on her face in what seemed like ages to Sarutobi._

_Soon her lip quivered and she wrapped her arms around Mamoru's neck and began to sob into his fur. He purred and licked her arm gently. Sarutobi sighed and slipped out leaving them in there so they could get to know each other._

_End Flashback_

Sarutobi opened the door and smiled as he saw Naru sitting with Mamoru, she perked up and stood up and smiled at him.

"How are you Naru?"  
"Good." she said and smiled.

"Good! Now I said I wanted to work on your chakra." he said, she nodded. "I want to find out your affinity." he said. "But I also have some jutsu's for whatever chakra nature you have." he said. "We'll use this special paper to test your nature, whatever it is the paper will react a certain way."

"React?"

"Yes, if you have fire nature it will burn, water it will become wet, earth it will crumble, lightning it will crinkle and wind it will rip in half." he said, she nodded and took the paper and focused, Sarutobi and Mamoru smirked as they watched the paper rip in half, she felt it gently.

"You have wind chakra." he said.

"Cool..." she said.

"Wind is very tricky to master, but once it's done, it can slice through virtually anything... and is pretty much unstoppable." he said.

"Wow!" Naru said with a smile.

"Well, I'm glad I went for this weapon." he said and walked back out and came back with a medium size rectangle. "Here." He said handing the object to her. She took it and felt it, she looked confused. He chuckled and helped her hand hold it then pulled it open.

"A folding fan." she said and smirked.

"It's specially made to react with your chakra. You could use this to knock someone off their feet if need be, to get someone away from you and much more." he said. "And when it's closed it becomes a good defense object, it's made of special materials. It will take a lot for this casing to be broken." he said, she nodded and felt the fan gently.

"This is amazing." she said with a smile.

"Now, I had this made in Suna and they sent a series of jutsu's for you to work on. We'll start you with C ranks." he said, she nodded, he opened a scroll. "This first one is _Kamaitachi_." he said, she nodded. "What you have to do, is swing the fan while pouring chakra into it, it will send a blast of wind out and when your chakra is mixed with the gust, it will cause much more damage and it can keep someone from you." he said, she nodded. "And if you want to hold the person you can make it like a tornado and it will slice at them." he said, she nodded.

"We'll practice that one in the woods." he said, she nodded. "What I do want you to work on is called _Gokan Sakusou_."

"What does that do?" she asked.

"It's a special odorless powder, once it hits the air it dulls all of the senses of your opponent." he said.

"How does that help me?"

"Even if they think they dodge the attack, it will still hit, they will see you moving really slow when it's really them who are moving slow." he said.

"Wow... but won't they see the powder?"  
"You use it with an exploding tag." he said, she nodded.

"Cool! And I wanted to tell you, I got the idea on this mission, that I can send chakra waves out and it helps me see." she said and smiled.

"Really?" he said, she nodded. "Good!" he said, she smiled.

"Is that all you wanted to teach me?" she asked.

"No, I am giving you one more." he said. "It's _Kuchiyose Kenka._" he said.

"Summoning?"  
"It's summoning weapons, without the use of blood."

"How then?" she asked.

"We create some summoning seals on like a wrist band or something, and with a simple touch of your chakra you can summon weapons with It." he said, she nodded. "We'll see if you can wear the fan on your back and still move easily and ride on Mamoru easily still." he said, she nodded, he gave her the strap for the fan and helped her snap it on and slide the fan in the holder on her back, she tested to pull it out quickly then walked around, she got on Mamoru's back and he walked around.

"Alright it seems you should be fine." he said.

"What about this powder?"  
"It's being made still." he said, she nodded, he showed her all the weapons he got her then helped her seal them and they put them on some wrist bands and she pulled them on and nodded.

"Thanks for this Jiji." she said, he smiled and kissed her head.

"Well, you wanna practice these new jutsu's?" he said, she nodded with a smile, he chuckled and began to help her practice a little.

After practice Sarutobi had some tea and dango brought and they sat down. "Hey, Jiji, do you think I should... Should tell-" she stopped.

"Who?"  
"Iruka-sensei, was asking me earlier, Kakashi came and talked to him..." she said. "He was asking and I kinda feel bad for hiding this from him." she said. "I mean he helped me so much and let me in and now I feel like a total backstabber for not telling him..." she said.

"Naru, it's your call, do you want to tell him?" he asked. "Do you think it will be okay." he said, she sighed.

"I want to, but I don't want him to tell Kakashi-sensei." she said and looked down.

"Well, if you do and he truly cares for your well-being, you ask him not to tell anyone." he said, she nodded a little. "So?"  
"I think I'm going to tell him tomorrow." she said and bit her lip, Sarutobi nodded. "Will you be there?"  
"If you want me to."  
"Yes." she said.  
"We'll do it in the evening, I have meetings all day." he said, she nodded. "I am going to keep searching for new wind style jutsu's... but I do have one person that you can go to for training..." he said. "And he can be trusted." he said, she cocked her head.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"He's my son." he said, Naru blinked a few times. "Asuma Sarutobi."  
"Oh, he came on the mission didn't he." she said, he nodded. "So, you think he'd teach me?"  
"I can talk to him..." he said.

"Can I think about it?"

"Of course." he said, she smiled and nodded.

~o0o~

Naru bit her nail as she sat on her couch, Mamoru walked from her room and looked at her. "Calm down."  
"How can I? What if he gets mad and leaves me? What if he tells and then I'm kicked off the team? What if... if..." Naru said while starting to work herself into a panic.  
"What if? Naru, calm down!" he said and put his large paw her leg, she smiled and nodded. There was a knock and Naru opened it and Sarutobi came in.

"Are you ready?"

"No..." she said and chuckled, there was a knock on the door.

"Naru?" he said, she opened the door and smiled. "I got your note. Is everything alright?" he asked, she gulped.

"Well, I... I wanted to talk to you." she said and sighed, he tilted his head and sat on the couch and looked between Naru, Sarutobi and Mamoru.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Sensei, you remember how you asked me, if there was anything wrong I'd tell ya?" she said.

"Yeah." he said with a nod.

"Well, there is, and I haven't told anyone but... I- I feel bad not telling you, because of how much you've been here for me, I don't like hiding stuff from you..." she said, Iruka sat forward.

"Naru what's going on?" he asked.

"You just have to swear you won't tell Kakashi, or anyone!" she said and gulped and shook.

"Okay?" Iruka said with a chuckle.

"Iruka, this is serious, this is a big secret." Sarutobi said. "Bigger than the other." He said, Iruka looked at him shocked.

"Okay, I promise." he said. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Okay, um, Kakashi is sorta – well is right that I have something wrong with me..." she said and gulped. "I – um, when I turned 9, I kinda got... hurt…" she said.  
"What do you mean? I took you out for your birthday dinner..." Iruka said.  
"And I walked home alone..." she said. "See the villager's always pick on me and everything but, on my birthday they escalate it, and on my 9th birthday they went really far..." she said, Iruka looked at Naru then at Sarutobi, he motioned for the man to pay attention. "They snatched me while I was on my way to my apartment and I blacked out for a few minutes." she said and let out a shaky breath. "I woke up in this old building, it was dark and cold, I looked up to see the group that snatched me there and they started to beat me." she said, Iruka looked at her in horror, his breathing began to pick up a little. "I couldn't do anything, I ended up just curling up taking it trying to protect myself the best that I could." she said. "After a while they stopped and I made a mistake and thought they were done. I had looked up and there was one standing there, he brought his hand up." she said and did the same with her hand a little. "I remember it was glowing with chakra and he swiped it across my face over my eyes." she said and touched her cheek and gulped, she looked down. "I... - after I … I couldn't open my eyes…" she said and swallowed hard, she sat down on the table in front of the couch. "I was able to crawl out of the building and into the alley, but that's as far as I made it, I was there for almost two days." she said and stopped blinking hard from tears, Iruka looked confused, his breathing was picking up.

"I had been searching for her." Sarutobi said, Iruka looked at him. "I found her in the alley just before she- well, anyways, I brought her to my place and patched her up some and that's when she told me..."

"Told you what?"  
"When that guy hit me with chakra, I couldn't open my eyes, at all." she said, Iruka looked at her worried. "I stayed with Ojii-san, then he took me to Suna with him."  
"I couldn't get a hold of Tsunade so I took her with me to Suna to see a doctor and that's when he gave us the news."  
"What are you talking about?!" Iruka said.

"I can't see." Naru said, he looked at shocked.  
"Wh...What?" he said in shock.

"I'm blind." She said in almost a whisper. "Ever since that night, I haven't been able to see anything." she said. "That's why Mamoru stays with me, and I always took my tests after school and why I wasn't even in school for that time." she said.

"Blind? But Naru – you – I..." he stopped and looked down.

"I was going to just give up but, you and Ojii-san snapped me out of it and I continued to train and get stronger." she said.

"But I don't understand! You were able to get Mizuki no problem!" he said.

"I know, at first I didn't understand but then I found out everything, if I use **his** chakra, it seems I can see a little, more blurry shapes then anything." she said, Sarutobi looked at her shocked, not even knowing this himself. "I've been training myself to sorta see? With chakra waves." she said.

"Naru – I – I'm so sorry." he said.

"It's not your fault."  
"But I should have walked you home and hung around till the day was over! I should have known that that day was the worst day of the whole year for you."  
"Sensei, you couldn't of known." she said. "Who's to know they still could of done it, even after you left." she said. "So..." she shrugged slightly.

Iruka got up and cupped her face, she blinked and a tear fell from her eye, he wiped it away then hugged her, she smiled and returned it.

Mamoru smirked and Sarutobi sighed with a smile, Iruka pulled back. "I just couldn't stand hiding this from you anymore." she said, Iruka smiled.

"Thank you."  
"But you have to promise not to tell Kakashi-sensei." she said. "I don't want him or anyone to know, I'm just not ready yet." she said, he nodded.

"I promise Naru, your secret is safe with Me." he said, she smiled and nodded. "If you need me to do anything I can-"  
"Sensei... please, I don't like being babied." she said, he paused with a blush.

"Right..." he said and chuckled. "I just want you to know, that if you need me to do anything, I will." he said, she smiled and nodded.

Iruka walked away from Naru's apartment silently thinking about everything he had just learned, he got to his apartment building and stopped, he looked around at the people walking, glaring at the ground upset that these people hurt Naru so badly.

"Iruka?" he turned and saw Kakashi standing there. _How does he always know where to find me? _He thought with a frown. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"F…Fine Kakashi-san." he said.

"Hey, um, have you been able to find out anything or figure anything out about Naru?" he asked, Iruka gritted his teeth, anger bubbled in his chest thinking about Naru and Kakashi's persistence.

"Kakashi-san why don't you just leave her alone?" he said, Kakashi blinked in shock.

"What?"  
"So what if she's hiding something from you!? She doesn't have to tell you anything!" he barked, Kakashi looked at him confused. "Just because you are her sensei now doesn't mean you have rights over her! Or you have to know everything that's happened to her!" he barked.

"Iruka I was just-"  
"Just nothing! You leave Naru alone!" he said. "If she wants to hide something then you better get over it and deal with it!" he barked, Kakashi looked at him his jaw slack. "Now you leave Naru alone or we'll have a problem!" he said and snorted and stomped away leaving the jounin to stand there in shock.

"Huh!?" Kakashi said and sighed shaking his head and decided to head home before he made anyone else mad.

* * *

I guess it was a fairly neutral chapter, I guess... I'll update when I can. Review please!

Alright Kakashi has gotten told off 3 times in this chapter ;) think he's done?

Also the jutsu's that were mentioned in this chapter they were in italics here they are-

**Gokan Sakusou-Five senses confusion disorder(Anime movie 3:land of moon movie jutsu)  
**NA  
Supplementary  
Odorless powder is dispersed by an explosive tag, once in the air it will be inhaled and it slows the reaction of targets, even if they dodge they will still be hit.

**Kamaitachi-cutting whirlwind(Canon Temari's jutsu)  
**C  
Attack  
Uses her fan to blow a concussive wind that is mixed with chakra. When opponent is caught in the wind, a tornado will raise them into the air and hold them with chakra. The wind will begin to cut them with sickling winds

**Kuchiyose raikou kenka-summoning lightning blade creation(Canon Shippuden Sasuke's jutsu)  
**B  
Supplementary  
Placing summoning symbol on body, user can summon various weapons of any size to them in a fight.

* * *

Enjoy! Review!:) We're getting pretty good amount of review, but keep it up!

* * *

_Also I got this new idea. Tell me what you think of it? Does it sound worthy of being published? _

**Summary: **When Kushina found out she was having twins she was ecstatic! But Kushina's seal wouldn't hold for having twins and could kill her, so Minato performed an ancient jutsu and transferred Kyuubi into his daughter. But when news comes that a group will come after Kyuubi, they have Tsunade take the girl and travel around to keep her safe. But what happens when Naru meets her brother she never knew she had?


End file.
